(FiveNation.com)- Last week, journalist Bari Weiss released the second installment of the Twitter Files that outlined how Twitter used filtering tools to effectively “shadow-ban” conservatives.
After the second installment was released, Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk announced that the social media platform would soon allow users to see if their tweets are being shadowbanned.
Musk tweeted last Thursday that the company was working on a software update that “will show your true account status” allowing users to see if they have been shadowbanned, the reason they have been, and how to appeal the decision.
According to the information released by Bari Weiss, Twitter placed conservative Twitter users on a “Trends Blacklist” or a “Search Blacklist” that made their tweets undiscoverable or harder to search.
So far, there have been five installments of the Twitter Files.
The releases began on December 2 with the revelations provided by journalist Matt Taibbi on the suppression of the New York Post’s story on Hunter’s laptop.
This was followed several days later by Bari Weiss’ release on Twitter’s shadow bans.
The second installment was delayed by several days after Taibbi and Weiss discovered that Twitter’s General Counsel, former FBI General Counsel Jim Baker, was secretly “vetting” the documents before releasing them, without Elon Musk’s knowledge.
In a tweet last Tuesday, Musk said Jim Baker had been fired from the company “in light of concerns about Baker’s possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue.”
Musk said he questioned Baker about whether he was secretly vetting the documents and found Baker’s explanation “unconvincing.”
With Baker out of the way, the release of the Twitter files picked up steam.
Over the weekend, Taibbi, Weiss, and Michael Shellenberger began releasing the internal documents related to Twitter’s decision to ban then-President Trump.
Taibbi kicked off the 3-part release by outlining what happened leading up to the January 6 riot.
Shellenberger then covered the “chaos” at Twitter on January 7, 2021.
Finally, Bari Weiss released the internal communications on January 8, 2021, the day Twitter officially banned Trump.
