The Twitter Files continue to reveal the real story behind censorship on the platform. The latest release shows that former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey may have lied before Congress, committing perjury.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), leading member of the House Freedom Caucus, tweeted that Dorsey should be investigated by the House Judiciary Committee and House Oversight Committee:
The Twitter Files reveal that former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey may have committed perjury. He told Congress under oath that Twitter was not shadow-banning conservatives. Twitter was. He should be investigated by @JudiciaryGOP and @GOPoversight.
Dorsey originally said that there was no censorship on the platform. He testified before the House in 2018 that he did not allow censorship or shadow banning:
Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA): “I want to read a few quotes about Twitter’s practices and I just want you to tell me if they’re true or not. Social media is being rigged to censor conservatives. Is that true of Twitter?”
Dorsey: “No.”
Doyle: “Are you censoring people?”
Dorsey: “No.”
Doyle: “Twitter’s shadow-banning prominent Republicans… is that true?”
Dorsey: “No.”
The Twitter Files, released in multiple editions by Twitter in partnership with journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss and author Michael Shellenberger, show that Twitter was, in fact, actively censoring conservatives and prominent Republicans both before and after the 2020 presidential election.
As of now, it is unclear whether Dorsey was intentionally misleading Congress and the American people, or if he was left in the dark about his company’s tactics. If Dorsey knew that Twitter worked to suppress content, and it’s demonstrated they were doing so in 2018, he could be guilty of perjury.
In the weeks and months before the 2020 election, Twitter continued to fine-tune its censorship tactics, including censoring elected officials and conservative voices.
Yoel Roth, ex-head of “trust and safety” at Twitter, led the team driving much of the censorship agenda. Screenshots from the company’s Slack channel, made public by Twitter through Shellenberg, prove the extent to which Roth found ways to silence conservatives. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was one such target, accused of spreading “conspiracy theories”:
According to Schellenberger, Twitter had chosen to ignore calls to boot Trump from the platform before the election, but they did restrict his account multiple times during the election.
According to Taibbi, they also used a complex web of “visibility tools” to censor and restrict conservatives in general and Trump in particular.
Even before the Trump suspension, Twitter was “trying to create an ever-expanding ostensibly rational set of rules to regulate every conceivable speech situation that might arise between humans.”
Twitter also chose to censor clear evidence of Hunter Biden’s involvement in schemes to sell influence to Russian interests, and his father Joe Biden’s likely involvement, just weeks before the election.
Trump was eventually booted from Twitter in the aftermath of the January 6th protest at the US Capitol. The Twitter Files reveal that Dorsey was on vacation during the week of the January 6th riots and the suspension of Donald Trump’s account and that Roth, among others, led the effort.
More Twitter files continue to be released, rocking national politics even as major news media outlets ignore the story. For now, attention is focused on Jack Dorsey’s leadership — or lack thereof — in the censorship, as well as introductions to the minds behind one of the biggest political censorship campaigns in American history.
