All Twitter File Links, Aggregated
An ongoing and updated post
Updated February 7, 2023. The latest Twitter Files addition, on Hamilton 68, starts here.
This will be an ongoing, constantly updated post that lists links to the Twitter Files in order of their publications, until either the project is completed or the manager that replaces Elon Musk finally knuckles under and kicks reporters as far out of the building as he can boot them.
These are the Twitter Files in the order of their release. They are discussed in more detail here:
All links below lead to unrolled threads hosted at the Thread Reader App website. Scroll down for the latest files. It’s below the Share button.
Thread: Twitter Files 1
Matt Taibbi, December 2, 2022
The “Twitter Files” tell an incredible story from inside one of the world’s largest and most influential social media platforms. It is a Frankensteinian tale of a human-built mechanism grown out [of] the control of its designer.
Twitter Files 1a — Supplemental
Matt Taibbi, December 6, 2022
On Friday, the first installment of the Twitter files was published here. We expected to publish more over the weekend. Many wondered why there was a delay. We can now tell you part of the reason why.
Twitter Files 2 — Twitter's Secret Blacklists
Bari Weiss, December 9, 2022
A new #TwitterFiles investigation reveals that teams of Twitter employees build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users.
Twitter Files 3 — The Removal of Donald Trump: October 2020-January 6th
Matt Taibbi, December 9, 2022
The world knows much of the story of what happened between riots at the Capitol on January 6th, and the removal of President Donald Trump from Twitter on January 8th. We’ll show you what hasn’t been revealed.
Twitter Files 4 — The Removal of Donald Trump: January 7
Michael Schellenberger, December 10, 2022
For years, Twitter had resisted calls to ban Trump. “Blocking a world leader from Twitter,” it wrote in 2018, “would hide important info... [and] hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.”
Twitter Files 5 — The Removal of Trump from Twitter
Bari Weiss, December 12, 2022
On the morning of January 8, President Donald Trump, with one remaining strike before being at risk of permanent suspension from Twitter, tweets twice.
Twitter Files 6 — Twitter, The FBI Subsidiary
Matt Taibbi, December 16, 2022
Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive, as if it were a subsidiary. Between January 2020 and November 2022, there were over 150 emails between the FBI and former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth.
Twitter Files 6a — Supplemental (Version at Taibbi’s Substack here)
Matt Taibbi, December 18, 2022
The [Foreign Influence Task Force] seem[ed] displeased with Twitter for implying, in a July 20th “DHS/ODNI/FBI/Industry briefing,” that “you indicated you had not observed much recent activity from official propaganda actors on your platform.”
Twitter Files 7 — The FBI & the Hunter Biden Laptop
Michael Shellenberger, December 19, 2022
Time and again, FBI asks Twitter for evidence of foreign influence & Twitter responds that they aren’t finding anything worth reporting.
Twitter Files 8 — How Twitter Quietly Aided the Pentagon’s Covert Online PsyOp Campaign
Lee Fang, December 20, 2022
An expanded version was published at The Intercept.
Despite promises to shut down covert state-run propaganda networks, Twitter docs show that the social media giant directly assisted the U.S. military’s influence operation.
Twitter Files 9 — Twitter and “Other Government Agencies”
Matt Taibbi, December 24, 2022
Also published as “Twitter Files Thread: The Spies Who Loved Twitter” at his Substack site.
The files show the FBI acting as doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA.
Twitter Files 10 — How Twitter Rigged the Covid Debate
David Zwieg, December 26, 2022
Both the Trump and Biden administrations directly pressed Twitter executives to moderate the platform’s pandemic content according to their wishes.
Twitter Files 11 — How Twitter Let the Intelligence Community In
Matt Taibbi, January 3, 2023
A differently titled version was also published at Taibbi’s Substack site.
30. “REPORTERS NOW KNOW THIS IS A MODEL THAT WORKS”
This cycle – threatened legislation, wedded to scare headlines pushed by congressional/intel sources, followed by Twitter caving to moderation asks – would later be formalized in partnerships with federal law enforcement.
Twitter Files 12 — Twitter and the FBI ‘Belly Button’ (Version at Taibbi’s Substack here)
Matt Taibbi, January 3, 2023
23. "BELLY BUTTON"
“We can give you everything we’re seeing from the FBI and USIC agencies,” Chan explained, but the DHS agency CISA “will know what’s going on in each state.” He went on to ask if industry could “rely on the FBI to be the belly button of the USG."
Twitter Files 13 — Twitter and Covid
Alex Berenson, January 9, 2023
1. … On August 27, 2021, Dr. Scott Gottlieb - a Pfizer director with over 550,000 Twitter followers - saw a tweet he didn’t like, a tweet that might hurt sales of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccines. …
2. The tweet explained correctly that natural immunity after Covid infection was superior to vaccine protection. It called on the White House to “follow the science” and exempt people with natural immunity from upcoming vaccine mandates. …
5. @Pfizer depended on mRNA jabs for almost half its $81 billion in sales in 2021 and paid Gottlieb $365,000 for his work that year.
6. Gottlieb stepped in, emailing Todd O’Boyle, a top lobbyist in Twitter’s Washington office who was also Twitter’s point of contact with the White House. …
This Twitter File may be difficult for some people as it comes from Alex Berenson, a man with a strong, right-wing, anti-vax reputation. But follow the money. The tread is about Twitter and Pharma, not vaccine effectiveness.
Twitter Files 14 — Russian Bots and #ReleasetheMemo Hashtag
Matt Taibbi, January 12, 2023
30. Despite universal internal conviction that there were no Russians in the story, Twitter went on to follow a slavish pattern of not challenging Russia claims on the record.
Another Twitter File that may be difficult for some people. If it’s an article of faith for you that Russia materially affected the election of Donald Trump, that without Russian interference he might not have been President, this will challenge that belief, at least from Twitter’s standpoint. It may also unchain a now-quiet beast, your feelings about Devin Nunes.
I merely suggest that, whatever your feelings, you follow the facts. If the wrong clock is right, should that clock’s reading be ignored?
Twitter Files 14a — Supplemental — More Adam Schiff Ban Requests,
and "Deamplification"
Matt Taibbi, January 13, 2023
6. … Schiff’s office repeatedly complained about “QAnon related activity” that were often tweets about other matters, like the identity of the Ukraine “whistleblower” or the Steele dossier.
Twitter Files 15 — How the pharmaceutical industry lobbied social media to shape content around vaccine policy (Intercept version: “Covid-19 Drugmakers Pressured Twitter to Censor Activists Pushing for Generic Vaccine)
Lee Fang, January 16, 2023
The campaign they were concerned about was the launch of an international push to force the drug industry to share the intellectual property and patents associated with coronavirus vaccine development. Making the patents available, in turn, would allow countries across the world to swiftly manufacture generic vaccines and other low-cost therapeutics to deal with the ongoing pandemic. [Intercept version, emphasis added]
Update from January 27
Twitter Files 16 — Move Over, Jayson Blair: Twitter Files Expose Next Great Media Fraud [Taibbi lists this release as “Twitter Files 15”]
Matt Taibbi, January 27, 2023
This, by Chris Hedges, seems a fair description of the content and importance (slightly edited for readability). You can decide for yourself if Hedges is fair and the content important.
Matt Taibbi has published an investigation about a vast propaganda campaign called “Hamilton 68, launched a year after Donald Trump won the presidency, to smear critics of the Democratic Party, from the left and the right, as Russian assets.
Hamilton 68 claimed it used complex data analysis and relied on so-called disinformation experts to ferret out information on social media that emanated from the Kremlin. Hamilton 68, a computerized “dashboard” designed to be used by reporters and academics to measure “Russian disinformation,” was run by Democratic operatives, including John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair, and figures from intelligence agencies such as the CIA, the FBI and Homeland Security, as well as neoconservatives and establishment Republicans, such as Bill Kristol, who do not support Trump and have been warmly embraced by the Democratic Party.
Mainstream news outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, PBS, NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, as well as Mother Jones – which ran 14 stories based on the group’s “research” – cited Hamilton 68 as an authoritative source, even as the site refused to disclose the data or methods it used to make its assessments.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of media headlines were flagged as Russian bot infiltrations in online discussions about the Brett Kavanaugh hearings; Tulsi Gabbard’s campaign; the Parkland shooting; U.S. missile strikes in Syria and the Bernie Sander’s campaign and many, many other stories. Fact-checking sites like Politifact and Snopes also relied on Hamilton 68.
Taibbi, given access to Twitter’s internal memos and emails by Elon Musk, who bought Twitter, was able to expose not only the fraudulent claims of Hamilton 68, but the failure of the press, which was a full partner in one of the worst forms of censorship since the red baiting of Joe McCarthy in the 1950s, one that targeted people with dissident or unconventional opinions and accused them of Un-American activities.
There’s a follow-on titled “Hamilton 68: Brief Addendum” posted here. It appears only on his Substack site.
Here’s a discussion between Hedges and Taibbi on this topic:
This piece will be updated with links as new Twitter Files are released.