The fifth instalment of the "Twitter Files" was released by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk on Monday, which revealed that Twitter employees and top executives pushed for former US President Donald Trump to be banned following the riots at Capitol Hill in January 2021. As per the information shared by journalist Bari Weiss, Trump was banned despite monitors initially finding no policy violations in the former US president's tweets.
Weiss shared details of internal communication within Twitter which led to Trump’s ban along with screenshots of employee messages.
Trump was banned from Twitter on January 8, 2021, two days after the capitol riots in which a mob of his supporters breached the Capitol building to interrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
THREAD: THE TWITTER FILES PART FIVE.
THE REMOVAL OF TRUMP FROM TWITTER.— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
As per Weiss' thread, Trump tweeted twice on the morning of January 8, first to praise those who supported him at the ballot box and the second time to announce that he would not attend Biden's inauguration. These were the two tweets that were used as the foundation for the subsequent ban.
Weiss said that the first tweet caused uproar among Twitter's employees with one writing in an internal communication: "There is a lot of employee advocacy happening."
9. After January 6, Twitter employees organized to demand their employer ban Trump. “There is a lot of employee advocacy happening,” said one Twitter employee. pic.twitter.com/x9Xty6ndYP
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
However, according to other screenshots of communication, the employees in charge of determining whether the former president’s posts merited a ban saw nothing wrong and concluded there was no incitement of violence.
Several employees agreed that the tweets did not amount to incitement.
The second tweet was also cleared by the team. However, Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's now-fired head of legal, policy and trust, responded against the initial finding, and asked whether Trump's tweets can be used as coded incitement to further violence.
Gadde suggested that the term "American Patriots" could be considered part of that coded violence to consider a violation.
Shortly after Gadde’s message, Twitter’s so-called "scaled enforcement" team engaged in the matter and one of its members suggested that Trump's tweet violated Twitter's policy against "glorification of violence".
The matter was further escalated as another employee suggested that if 'American Patriots' is considered to refer to the rioters then they have a point.
Another employee wrote that the scaled enforcement team saw Trump "as the leader of a terrorist group responsible for violence/deaths comparable to Christchurch shooter or Hitler and on that basis and on the totality of his Tweets, he should be banned (de-platformed)".
As per Weiss' tweets, a 30-minute all-staffer meeting was held following the communication of the scaled enforcement team in the presence of Gadde and former CEO Jack Dorsey.
After that, it seemed like a ban was decided as Dorsey requested Yoel Roth, the former head of "trust and safety", to make language of the document of Trump's suspension simpler, the release said. Roth expressed his concern over the request as he thought the document would be shared publicly by Dorsey.
Just one hour later, Twitter announced Trump's permanent suspension "due to the risk of further incitement of violence."
32. One hour later, Twitter announces Trump’s permanent suspension “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
Weiss shared information that pointed that Twitter's treatment of Trump stood in stark contrast with other leaders who indeed violated Twitter's policies. His screenshots included tweets from Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which were not taken down despite repeatedly calling for the destruction of Israel.
Other world leaders included the president of Nigeria and the prime minister of Ethiopia, who were not banned despite posting clear incitements to violence.
Weiss said that the ban on Trump was criticized by other world leaders, and the new COO Parag Agrawal had suggested employees to brainstorm the ripple effects of the ban.
Last month, the new CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk, reinstated Trump on Twitter but he hasn't tweeted from the account so far. However, Trump continues to share his thoughts on his Truth Social platform which he launched following his Twitter ban.
(Edited by : Jerome Anthony)
First Published: Dec 13, 2022 11:45 AM IST
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