Twitter Files
A reference to the release of internal Twitter documents revealing government involvement in content moderation, now used as a model for a proposed radical transparency initiative across the entire federal government.
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8/20/2025, 2:37:59 AM
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8/20/2025, 2:39:35 AM
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8/20/2025, 2:39:35 AM
Summary
The "Twitter Files" are a series of internal Twitter documents released by Elon Musk to select journalists between December 2022 and March 2023, following his acquisition of the company. These releases, primarily published as Twitter threads, aimed to expose the company's past content moderation decisions. While some interpreted the files as evidence of Twitter's policy team navigating complex issues, conservatives often viewed them as proof of liberal bias and government-directed censorship, particularly concerning the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story. However, key journalists involved, like Matt Taibbi, found no evidence of direct government involvement in that specific decision, and Twitter's own attorneys later refuted claims of government coercion. The files also revealed Twitter's allowance of U.S. military influence campaigns. The "Twitter Files" sparked significant debate on content moderation, blacklisting, and transparency, leading to calls for congressional investigations and serving as a model for future government declassification efforts in the context of broader government reform.
Referenced in 1 Document
Research Data
Extracted Attributes
Type
Series of internal company documents
Impact
Sparked debates on blacklisting, calls for congressional investigations, calls for transparency, model for declassification
Subject
Internal content moderation decisions, alleged censorship, government influence
Released By
Elon Musk
Disputed Claim
Government coercion in content moderation (refuted by Twitter attorneys and Matt Taibbi)
Release Period
December 2022 - March 2023
Key Controversy
Suppression of Hunter Biden laptop story
Revealed Practice
U.S. military influence campaigns on Twitter
Primary Publication Platform
Twitter (now X)
Timeline
- Elon Musk acquires Twitter, setting the stage for the release of internal documents. (Source: Wikipedia)
2022-10-27
- Initial releases of the Twitter Files begin. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)
2022-12
- Matt Taibbi posts the first installment of the Twitter Files, focusing on the Hunter Biden laptop story. (Source: Web Search Results, Wikipedia)
2022-12-02
- The series of Twitter Files releases concludes. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)
2023-03
- Twitter's attorneys formally deny in a court filing that the Twitter Files demonstrate government coercion to censor content. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)
2023-06
- New York Post publishes story about Hunter Biden's laptop, which Twitter initially suppressed, becoming a key focus of the Twitter Files. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)
2020-10
- Former President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter, a high-profile action later covered by the Twitter Files. (Source: Web Search Results)
2020-01
- The Twitter Files are cited as a model for a massive declassification effort as part of a broader government reform agenda. (Source: Related Documents)
2024
Wikipedia
View on WikipediaTwitter Files
The Twitter Files are a series of releases of select internal Twitter, Inc. documents published from December 2022 through March 2023 on Twitter. CEO Elon Musk gave the documents to journalists Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss, Lee Fang, and authors Michael Shellenberger, David Zweig, Alex Berenson, and Paul D. Thacker shortly after he acquired Twitter on October 27, 2022. Taibbi and Weiss coordinated the publication of the documents with Musk, releasing details of the files as a series of Twitter threads. After the first set of files was published, various technology and media journalists said that the reported evidence demonstrated little more than Twitter's policy team struggling with difficult decisions, but resolving such matters swiftly. Some conservatives said that the documents demonstrated what they called Twitter's liberal bias. A major aspect of the examination surrounded false assertions by Musk and others that Twitter had been ordered by the government to help presidential candidate Joe Biden in the coming election by suppressing an October 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden's laptop. Researcher Matt Taibbi found no evidence of government involvement in Twitter's decision to initially withhold the story. In a June 2023 court filing, Twitter attorneys strongly denied that the Files showed the government had coerced the company to censor content, as Musk and many Republicans claimed. Former Twitter employees asserted that Republican officials also made takedown requests so often that Twitter had to keep a database tracking them. Internal Twitter emails showed the company allowed accounts operated by the U.S. military to run a Middle East influence campaign; some accounts were kept on the platform for years before being taken down. The releases prompted debate over the nature of blacklisting, vows for congressional investigation, calls for the full release of all documents for the sake of transparency, and calls to improve content moderation processes at Twitter.
Web Search Results
- Twitter Files - Wikipedia
The **Twitter Files** are a series of releases of select internal Twitter, Inc. documents published from December 2022 through March 2023 on Twitter. Baker (government attorney)"), deputy general counsel at Twitter, for allegedly vetting the information before it was passed on to Taibbi and Weiss and providing an explanation that Musk found "unconvincing." Taibbi said that the planned publication of Twitter's internal documents related to its handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story had been delayed because of Baker's vetting. The first installment included content related to Twitter's moderation process regarding a _New York Post_ article on the Hunter Biden laptop story. On December 2, 2022, Taibbi posted a lengthy Twitter thread reporting on the first installment of the Twitter Files, which he illustrated with images of some of the files.
- Elon Musk is using the Twitter Files to discredit foes and push ... - NPR
The Twitter Files might not be the bombshell Musk teased in popcorn emoji-laden tweets — but they offer an illuminating glimpse into the sausage-making of content moderation. Citing its rules against sharing hacked material containing private information, the company showed a warning to anyone who tried to post a link to the article saying it was "potentially harmful." It also suspended the New York Post's own Twitter account until it deleted its tweets about the story. Musk has endorsed some existing moderation tools that the Twitter Files cast as censorship, like its longtime, publicly stated policy of limiting the visibility of some tweets and accounts that break its rules. But with his drumbeat of Twitter Files releases and gleeful tweets dunking on the company's former employees, Musk has successfully hijacked the conversation.
- Twitter Files: What they are and why they matter - CBS News
Twitter Files: What they are and why they matter - CBS News The so-called Twitter Files are the brainchild of Twitter owner Elon Musk, who has said he wants to show "what really happened" behind the scenes regarding content moderation decisions at the social media company before he bought it in October. The Twitter Files have been released in dribs and drabs throughout December, with three journalists — Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss and Michael Shellenberger — delving into the internal documents and discussions to highlight the company's decision-making process around some high-profile actions, such as banning former President Donald Trump in January 2020. * Twitter Files Part 1 focuses on the company's decisions surrounding news about material found on what is alleged to be Hunter Biden's laptop.
- Twitter's own lawyers refute Elon Musk's claim that the 'Twitter Files ...
# Twitter’s own lawyers refute Elon Musk’s claim that the ‘Twitter Files’ exposed US government censorship Now, though, Twitter’s own lawyers are disputing those claims in a case involving former President Donald Trump — forcefully rejecting any suggestion that the Twitter Files show what Musk and many Republicans assert they contain. In another push to promote misleading allegations of government malfeasance stemming from the Twitter Files, Musk also claimed that the “government paid Twitter millions of dollars to censor info from the public.” The Twitter Files also show the Trump administration made its own requests for removal of Twitter content.
- The Twitter Files (2023) - IMDb
Release date · July 5, 2023 (United States) · Country of origin. United States · Language. English · Production company · JC Films · See more company credits at
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