Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 6:10 p.m. No.17921233   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1389 >>1589 >>1662 >>1670 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

'Employees struggle with whether to punish users who share screenshots of Trump's deleted J6 tweets

 

"we should bounce these tweets with a strike given the screen shot violates the policy"

 

"they are criticising Trump, so I am bit hesitant with applying strike to this user"

9:04 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601759919656484864

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 6:18 p.m. No.17921279   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1389 >>1589 >>1662 >>1670 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

What if a user dislikes Trump and objects to Twitter's censorship? The tweet still gets deleted. But since the intention is not to deny the election result, no punishing strike is applied.

 

"if there are instances where the intent is unclear please feel free to raise"

9:16 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601762869359808512

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 6:29 p.m. No.17921349   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1385 >>1389 >>1589 >>1662 >>1670 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

Around noon, a confused senior executive in advertising sales sends a DM to Roth.

 

Sales exec: "jack says: 'we will permanently suspend [Trump] if our policies are violated after a 12 hour account lock'… what policies is jack talking about?"

 

Roth: "ANY policy violation"

9:26 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601765444477603840

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 6:34 p.m. No.17921377   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1389 >>1390 >>1589 >>1662 >>1670 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

What happens next is essential to understanding how Twitter justified banning Trump.

 

Sales exec: "are we dropping the public interest [policy] now…"

 

Roth, six hours later: "In this specific case, we're changing our public interest approach for his account…"

 

9:32 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601766851050352641

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 6:42 p.m. No.17921424   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1475 >>1585 >>1589 >>1662 >>1670 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

The ad exec is referring to Twitter’s policy of “Public-interest exceptions," which allows the content of elected officials, even if it violates Twitter rules, “if it directly contributes to understanding or discussion of a matter of public concern”

 

https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/public-interest

 

9:40 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601768967135453187

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 7 p.m. No.17921504   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1532 >>1589 >>1662 >>1670 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

Roth pushes for a permanent suspension of Rep. Matt Gaetz even though it “doesn’t quite fit anywhere (duh)”

 

It's a kind of test case for the rationale for banning Trump.

 

“I’m trying to talk [Twitter’s] safety [team] into… removal as a conspiracy that incites violence.”

 

9:52 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601771783421509632

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 7:01 p.m. No.17921512   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1578 >>1589 >>1662 >>1670 >>1672 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

Around 2:30, comms execs DM Roth to say they don't want to make a big deal of the QAnon ban to the media because they fear "if we push this it looks we’re trying to offer up something in place of the thing everyone wants," meaning a Trump ban.

 

9:58 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601773294285312001

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 7:02 p.m. No.17921522   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1589 >>1662 >>1670 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

That evening, a Twitter engineer DMs to Roth to say, "I feel a lot of debates around exceptions stem from the fact that Trump’s account is not technically different from anybody else’ and yet treated differently due to his personal status, without corresponding Twitter rules.."

 

10:00 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601773946109501441

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 7:08 p.m. No.17921553   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1589 >>1662 >>1670 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

Roth's response hints at how Twitter would justify deviating from its longstanding policy. "To put a different spin on it: policy is one part of the system of how Twitter works… we ran into the world changing faster than we were able to either adapt the product or the policy."

 

10:04 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601774937731403776

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 7:10 p.m. No.17921561   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1574 >>1589 >>1597 >>1662 >>1670 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

The evening of January 7, the same junior employee who expressed an "unpopular opinion" about "ad hoc decisions… that don’t appear rooted in policy," speaks up one last time before the end of the day.

 

Quote Tweet

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

·

2h

"This might be an unpopular opinion but one off ad hoc decisions like this that don’t appear rooted in policy are imho a slippery slope… This now appears to be a fiat by an online platform CEO with a global presence that can gatekeep speech for the entire world…"

Show this thread

10:07 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601775748297023488

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 7:21 p.m. No.17921624   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1628 >>1651 >>1662 >>1670 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

Earlier that day, the employee wrote, "My concern is specifically surrounding the unarticulated logic of the decision by FB. That space fills with the idea (conspiracy theory?) that all… internet moguls… sit around like kings casually deciding what people can and cannot see."

10:12 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601776921636835328

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 7:22 p.m. No.17921629   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1662 >>1670 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

The employee notes, later in the day, "And Will Oremus noticed the inconsistency too…," linking to an article for OneZero at Medium called, "Facebook Chucked Its Own Rulebook to Ban Trump."

 

onezero.medium.com

Facebook Chucked Its Own Rulebook to Ban Trump'

The move is a reminder of social platforms’ power over online speech — and the inconsistency with which they wield it

 

10:14 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601777521241968640

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 7:23 p.m. No.17921634   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1660 >>1662 >>1670 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

"The underlying problem," writes @WillOremus , is that “the dominant platforms have always been loath to own up to their subjectivity, because it highlights the extraordinary, unfettered power they wield over the global public square…

10:15 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601777742806073344

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 7:24 p.m. No.17921642   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1662 >>1670 >>1671 >>1674 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

"… and places the responsibility for that power on their own shoulders… So they hide behind an ever-changing rulebook, alternately pointing to it when it’s convenient and shoving it under the nearest rug when it isn’t.”

onezero.medium.com

Facebook Chucked Its Own Rulebook to Ban Trump

The move is a reminder of social platforms’ power over online speech — and the inconsistency with which they wield it

10:16 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601777938491670528

Anonymous ID: 60b2e1 Dec. 10, 2022, 7:27 p.m. No.17921665   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1674 >>1707 >>1729 >>1738 >>1780 >>1805

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

“Facebook’s suspension of Trump now puts Twitter in an awkward position. If Trump does indeed return to Twitter, the pressure on Twitter will ramp up to find a pretext on which to ban him as well.”

 

Indeed. And as @bariweiss will show tomorrow, that’s exactly what happened.

 

/END

 

10:17 PM · Dec 10, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1601778264581627904