{"id":561643,"date":"2023-03-09T22:21:02","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T19:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/weaponization-subcommittee-members-spar-over-twitter-files\/"},"modified":"2023-03-09T22:21:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T19:21:02","slug":"weaponization-subcommittee-members-spar-over-twitter-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/weaponization-subcommittee-members-spar-over-twitter-files\/","title":{"rendered":"#\u2018Weaponization\u2019 subcommittee members spar over \u2018Twitter Files\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a23b58da9c8e\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a23b58da9c8e\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/weaponization-subcommittee-members-spar-over-twitter-files\/#%E2%80%98Weaponization_subcommittee_members_spar_over_%E2%80%98Twitter_Files\" >\u2018Weaponization\u2019 subcommittee members spar over \u2018Twitter Files\u2019<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/weaponization-subcommittee-members-spar-over-twitter-files\/#Democrats_blast_%E2%80%98cherry-picked_emails_%E2%80%98so-called_journalists\" >Democrats blast \u2018cherry-picked\u2019 emails, \u2018so-called journalists\u2019<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/weaponization-subcommittee-members-spar-over-twitter-files\/#%E2%80%9CWho_gave_you_access\" >\u201cWho gave you access?\u2019<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%98Weaponization_subcommittee_members_spar_over_%E2%80%98Twitter_Files\"><\/span>\u2018Weaponization\u2019 subcommittee members spar over \u2018Twitter Files\u2019<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/02\/jordanjim_020923gn4_w.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>House Democrats and Republicans sparred Thursday over how <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> handles government requests for Twitter to review posts, in the second House committee showdown over reports known as the \u201cTwitter Files\u201d released by several journalists on the platform.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans called in Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger, two of the journalists who released threads of the files, as witnesses in a hearing for the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government. The hearing ramped up House GOP leaders\u2019 accusations that tech companies are making content censorship decisions with an anti-conservative bias.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>In the most heated moments, Democrats complained that another Taibbi \u201cTwitter Files\u201d thread was just posted shortly before the hearing started and not provided to them. They also pressed the journalists on how they obtained the files.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the committee, charged that the \u201cgovernment built a cozy relationship with Big Tech\u201d \u2014 referencing communications reported by Taibbi and Shellenberger in the Twitter Files. He also cited the platform\u2019s decision to block a New York Post story about Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop in 2020 after intelligence officials said they suspected it could have been the result of a Russian intelligence operation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe information op was run on us, run on we the people. And if that\u2019s not the weaponization of government, I don\u2019t know what is,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Democrats_blast_%E2%80%98cherry-picked_emails_%E2%80%98so-called_journalists\"><\/span><strong>Democrats blast \u2018cherry-picked\u2019 emails, \u2018so-called journalists\u2019<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Democrats accused the House majority of choosing witnesses to advance a false narrative after former Twitter executives\u00a0testified at a House Oversight Committee hearing last month\u00a0that they did not have knowledge of Democrats making direct demands to remove content.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Oversight committee Twitter hearing blasted by Democrats<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cRepublicans have brought in two of Elon Musk\u2019s public scribes to release cherry-picked, out of context emails and screenshots designed to promote his chosen narrative \u2014 Elon Musk\u2019s chosen narrative that is now being parroted by the Republicans because the Republicans think these witnesses will tell a story that is going to help them out politically,\u201d said Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), ranking member of the subcommittee.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Later in her opening statement, she referred to both Taibbi and Shellenberger as \u201cso-called journalists,\u201d which Taibbi later dinged her for in his own statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRanking member Plaskett, I\u2019m not a so-called journalist. I\u2019ve won the National Magazine Award, the I.F. Stone Award for independent journalism and I\u2019ve written 10 books, including four New York Times best-sellers,\u201d he said, as Jordan could be heard laughing in the background.<\/p>\n<p>The hearing came after House Judiciary Committee Republicans\u00a0released a report\u00a0this week saying that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asked Twitter to provide names of journalists to which the company has provided internal records.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Plaskett said that while the GOP report was largely focused on the letters that the FTC sent Twitter since Musk took ownership of Twitter, the company had issues with the FTC long before Musk was involved, relating to its use of account holder data.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FTC demanded Musk communications, names of journalists receiving internal files in Twitter probe, House Republicans say<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Democrats on the panel during Thursday\u2019s hearing pressed Taibbi and Shellenberger over the scope of the information they had access to, and the terms they agreed to when posting them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CWho_gave_you_access\"><\/span>\u201cWho gave you access?\u2019<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Taibbi said during the hearing that he signed a waiver and did not have access to personal info or human resources files as part of his process of receiving the trove of emails and files.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But Taibbi would not say, despite being pressed by both Plaskett and Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), whether Musk was the person who gave him that information.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho gave you access to these emails? Who was the individual who gave you permission to access these emails?\u201d Plaskett asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Taibbi referred to the attribution in his story, \u201csources at Twitter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jordan objected to Plaskett asking about a journalist\u2019s sources.<\/p>\n<p>Later in the hearing, Garcia asked Taibbi about whether Musk was the source.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cEither he is or he isn\u2019t. If you\u2019re telling me you can\u2019t answer because it\u2019s your source, then the only logical conclusion is that he is, in fact, your source,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n<p>Musk himself has promoted the Twitter Files and previewed their publication before Taibbi released them.<\/p>\n<p>Thursday\u2019s hearing was the second that House Republicans called over the Twitter Files. The House Oversight Committee held a similar hearing last month, featuring former Twitter executives.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>In both hearings, Democrats argued that Twitter, as a private company, is protected by the First Amendment to moderate content at its discretion, and tried to illustrate the hearings as an attempt for the GOP to score political points while wasting public funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Republicans, on the other hand, argued that government officials were in<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ropriately using a company to exert censorship by proxy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thing that we\u2019re concerned about is when the federal government by proxy essentially contracts this out, because the federal government can\u2019t ban speech,\u201d said Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah). <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone would be foolish to think that when the FBI comes to a private company and highlights speech, and then would expect them to do nothing. Of course they would respond to that. The FBI expected them to respond to that,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) took a different view.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt may be possible, that if you can take off the tinfoil hat, that there\u2019s not a vast conspiracy. Or that ordinary folks and national security agencies responsible for our security are trying their best to find a way to make sure that our online discourse doesn\u2019t get people hurt or see our democracy undermined,\u201d Allred said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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Republicans called in Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger, two of the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":561644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/02\/jordanjim_020923gn4_w.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[134344,117,134343,39394,80445,70867,136744,89113,136677,115,139406,134345,136745,141134],"class_list":["post-561643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-administration","tag-business","tag-campaign","tag-elon-musk","tag-healthcare","tag-hunter-biden","tag-hunter-biden-laptop","tag-jim-jordan","tag-matt-taibbi","tag-news","tag-stacey-plaskett","tag-state-watch","tag-twitter-files","tag-weaponization-select-subcommittee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}