‘Let people judge for themselves,’ Jack Dorsey tells Elon Musk on ‘Twitter Files’

After independent journalist Matt Taibbi released the first tranche last Saturday, Musk tweeted, “Tune in for Episode 2 of The Twitter Files tomorrow!” But the second tranche is yet to be released.

Dorsey tweeted on Thursday, “If the goal is transparency to build trust, why not just release everything without a filter and let people judge for themselves? Including all discussions around current and future actions? Make everything public now. #TwitterFiles”

Musk replied to Dorsey’s tweet, saying, “Most important data was hidden (from you too) and some may have been deleted, but everything we find will be released”.

What are the ‘Twitter Files’?

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The “Twitter Files” are a set of leaked documents highlighting internal communication at Twitter around a New York Post article published in 2020 about then Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

According to the documents released by Taibbi, Twitter tried to censor the article on requests from the Democratic Party.

Taibbi said while Twitter initially lived up to its mission statement of giving people “the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers”, things took a major turn in 2020 when tweets and content started being taken down frequently on the request of “connected actors”.

He added, “ By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine. One executive would write to another: “More to review from the Biden team.” The reply would come back: “Handled.”

According to Taibbi, people – whether celebrities or not – could have their accounts removed or reviewed at “the behest of a political party”. He also pointed out that while requests were made from both sides – Republicans and Democrats – “the system wasn’t balanced”.