Matt Taibbi on main takeaway from Twitter Files: 'Elaborate bureaucracy' of 'censorship'
Independent journalist Matt Taibbi joined 'Sunday Morning Futures' to discuss the significance of the Twitter Files and the politicization of the social media platform.
Journalist Matt Taibbi joined "The Joe Rogan Experience" on Monday to discuss how the government, including the office of Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., frequently contacted Twitter to have content removed from the social media platform.
Taibbi said he thought the relationship between security agencies like the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and tech companies like Twitter and Facebook was a "little bit less formal" then what turned out to be the case.
"I thought they had kind of like an advisory role and what we find is that it's not that," Taibbi said.
Instead, according to Taibbi, the relationship was formalized, with a "really intense structure" cultivated over several years that included regular meetings and a system where the DHS handled censorship requests from the states while the FBI fielded international requests.
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Journalist Matt Taibbi sits down with Joe Rogan to discuss the contents of the "The Twitter Files" as well as Elon Musk, censorship and more. (The Joe Rogan Experience)
"It's a big bureaucracy and I don't think we expected to see that," he added.
Rogan replied that it was "bizarre" for the government to openly call for censorship in email correspondence and other forms of transmission that are easy to duplicate and send to the masses.
"They're so comfortable with the idea that the government should be involved in this censorship, but what turns out to be true information, especially regarding the Hunter Biden laptop," he said.
Taibbi said it represents a government and social media mentality of being "impregnable" without fear of oversight.
"A normal person doesn't put incriminating things in emails because we all have the expectation that someday it might come out," he said.
Joe Rogan told Matt Taibbi he was shocked to find out how comfortable the government was with censoring true information like the Hunter Biden laptop. (The Joe Rogan Experience )
Taibbi also said he was "especially shocked" by an email from a Schiff staffer who called for the suspension of journalists who tweeted in a way that cast a bad light on the House Intelligence Committee.
He also admitted he expected the office and the committee more generally to have better "operational security."
In a January installment of "The Twitter Files", Taibbi indicated Schiff's staff asked Twitter "quite often" to take down certain tweets. A separate batch of Twitter Files that same month revealed similar requests by Schiff's office.
An example he shared was one sent in November 2020 by Schiff's office, which contacted Twitter hoping the tech giant would take action regarding "alleged harassment from QAnon conspiracists" against Schiff's staff, including aide Sean Misko. The latest batch indicates Schiff's office even fought to have unflattering pictures removed.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., speaks to reporters as he departs the final meeting of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol in the Canon House Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 19, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
"This important use of taxpayer resources involved an ask about a 'Peter Douche' parody photo of Joe Biden. The DNC made the same request," Taibbi wrote, proving visual evidence.
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"To its credit, Twitter refused to remove it, with Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth saying it had obvious 'humorous intent' and 'any reasonable observer' - apparently, not a Schiff staffer - could see it was doctored," he added.
According to Taibbi, Twitter also refused requests for bans of content about Schiff and his staff, such as "complete suppression of any and all search results about Mr. Misko and other Committee staffers."
The Twitter files also indicated that Schiff's office requested that Twitter "stop the spread of future misinformation on Twitter" regarding committee staff and "label and reduce the visibility of any content."
Fox News' Brian Flood and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.