According to documents obtained by Matt Taibbi on Friday, the FBI stated that there were no impediments to information-sharing between Twitter and itself at a meeting with Twitter’s legal executive Stacia Carille in Sept. 16, 2020.
According to Taibbi, Cardille sent an email following the meeting in which she reported Cardille’s promise to James Baker, then-Deputy General Counsel of the FBI. Baker is a former FBI lawyer who helped secure approval for Carter Page’s surveillance using Steele dossier information. Cardille expressed disappointment that Twitter’s Public Policy account had tweeted about the meeting without consulting the legal team.
Cardille doesn’t mention it in her email, but the tweets from the policy team mention that the collaboration was working alongside the government to address COVID-19’s impact on the election. Baker is told by Cardille that the meetings will soon become weekly. However, no other tweets from the policy group during the election cycle mention meeting up with government agencies.
The FBI stated that it regularly communicates with the private sector to share information about foreign malign influence actors’ criminal, undeclared, or subversive activities. After being notified by the FBI, private sector entities can decide what action to take for their customers and their platforms.
According to Taibbi, the relationship between Twitter and the FBI appeared to be continuing in some capacity up to Nov. 10, 2022 when Twitter was notified by the FBI of four accounts that could “possibly violate Twitter’s Terms of Services.” Twitter was alerted to @fromMA, a Twitter account that regularly posted anti-Republican or anti-Trump comments. Taibbi said the account was jokingly reminding Republicans not to vote on Wednesday November 9, when in fact Election Day was Nov. 8.
The @fromMA account is still active but the tweet that attracted the FBI’s attention appears to have been deleted. Taibbi pointed out that all four accounts, @fromMA included, were suspended.
Taibbi reported that the FBI sent 25 names to Twitter on November 6, 2022. Twitter took action against 17 accounts. Only two high-profile accounts were included on the list: the Twitter account of the pro-Trump Right Side Broadcasting Network, and Billy Baldwin. Neither had any actions taken against them.
Taibbi’s report is coming after Twitter CEO Elon Musk suspended eight journalists from Twitter amid claims that they were endangering Musk and his family’s safety by sharing their location on the platform. Many news outlets that had their journalists suspended refuted these claims. Sally Buzbee, the Washington Post’s Executive editor, stated in a statement to Daily Caller News Foundation that the suspensions “undermine Elon Musk’s claim” that Twitter is a platform for free speech.