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Twitter Files allege different levels of election tweet scrutiny, depending on pro-Trump vs pro-Biden stance

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In the third batch of โ€œTwitter Files,โ€ posted by independent journalist Matt Taibbi, the journalist suggests that Twitter executives went above and beyond to suppress tweets by high-profile conservatives but found justifications not to censor pro-Biden tweets.

In one case, staff did not find a โ€œfirm policy basisโ€ to censor a pro-Trump tweet by pro-Trump conservative actor James Woods. So they vowed to โ€œhit him hard on future [violations].โ€

In the October 2020 tweet, Woods wrote: โ€œTwitter is suppressing this tweet by the President. Hereโ€™s a screen grab.โ€ The tweet had a screenshot of Trumpโ€™s tweet that had been labeled โ€œdisputedโ€ and โ€œmisleading.โ€

โ€œIโ€™d suggest we action him for something worth the fiasco rather than this screenshot, since we donโ€™t have a firm policy basis for action on his account,โ€ an unnamed Twitter employee wrote in the internal message.

The internal messages also revealed that Twitterโ€™s head of trust and safety acknowledged that an October 2020 tweet by Trump about mail-in voting was โ€œfactually accurate,โ€ yet it was almost flagged.

โ€œBreaking News: 50,000 OHIO VOTERS getting WRONG ABSENTEE BALLOTS. Out of Control. A Rigged Election,โ€ Trump wrote at the time, responding to a tweet by a news outlet in Ohio about incorrect mail-in ballots and asked users if they โ€œfeel safeโ€ using mail-in ballots.

An unnamed employee wrote, โ€œโ€™a rigged electionโ€™ would be enough to be in violation, right?โ€

According to the documents, Twitter considered adding a โ€œmail-in voting is safeโ€ label to the tweet.

Twitter also considered flagging a joke tweet by former Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, which read: โ€œStood in rain for hour to early vote today. When I got home I filled in my stack of mail-in ballots and then voted the ballots of my deceased parents and grandparents. They vote just like me! #Trump2020.โ€

Twitter staff considered flagging it because, in their words, the joke was a former governor admitting to a crime.

โ€œThe group declares Huckโ€™s an โ€˜edge case,โ€™ and though one notes, โ€˜we donโ€™t make exceptions for jokes or satire,โ€™ they ultimately decide to leave him be, because โ€˜weโ€™ve poked enough bears,โ€™โ€ Taibbi explained.

Taibbi noted that pro-Biden tweets were not subjected to such level of scrutiny. One example is a tweet where a user complained about the appointment of conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and warned that โ€œtheyโ€™re going to steal the electionโ€ by telling people not to mail in ballots.

Twitter executives concluded that the tweet โ€œexpresses concern that mailed ballots might not make it on timeโ€ and let it be.

Taibbi also discovered that former head of trust and safety Yoel Roth removed a warning label on a tweet by former Attorney General Eric Holder that claimed โ€œitโ€™s too late to use the mail,โ€ and that Trump โ€œdeliberately cripplesโ€ the Postal Service. Roth said that the tweet was โ€œfactually accurate.โ€