The latest publication of the groundbreaking “Twitter Files” release spearheaded by the big tech platforms new CEO, African-American billionaire Elon Musk, reveal that the company banned 45th President Donald Trump under false pretenses while simultaneously allowing foreign dictators to openly violate their terms of service.
The fifth installment of the Twitter Files, subsequently revealed by reporter Bari Weiss on Monday afternoon, unveils discussions among Twitter safety employees surrounding the former president’s unprecedented removal from the platform on January 8, 2021.
In the days following the events of January 6, staffers inside Twitter pushed for President Trump’s removal from the platform amid internal and external pressure, Weiss revealed.
At the time, Twitter staffers were designated to examine two of the President’s post-January 6 tweets.
The first tweet, posted around 7am on January 8, read “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
2. 6:46 am: “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” pic.twitter.com/7L252fqqK6
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
The second tweet posted by the President around 8am that morning simply read, “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
4. For years, Twitter had resisted calls both internal and external to ban Trump on the grounds that blocking a world leader from the platform or removing their controversial tweets would hide important information that people should be able to see and debate.
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
However, according to internal communications revealed by Weiss, “Twitter staff assigned to evaluate tweets quickly concluded that Trump had *not* violated Twitter’s policies.”
“I think we’d have a hard time saying this is incitement,” wrote one staffer of President Trump’s first January 8 tweet. “It’s pretty clear he’s saying the ‘American Patriots’ are the ones who voted for him and not the terrorists (we can call them that, right?) from Wednesday,” said another.
13. “It's pretty clear he's saying the ‘American Patriots’ are the ones who voted for him and not the terrorists (we can call them that, right?) from Wednesday.”
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
Another unnamed staffer admitted that they “Don’t see the incitement angle here.”
14. Another staffer agreed: “Don’t see the incitement angle here.” pic.twitter.com/6mbUU2Tma0
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
“I also am not seeing clear or coded incitement in the DJT tweet,” wrote Twitter policy official Anika Navaroli, the communications reveal. “I’ll respond in the elections channel and say that our team has assessed and found no vios for the DJT one.”
“…as an fyi, Safety has assessed the DJT Tweet above and determined that there is no violation of our policies at this time,” Navaroli admitted at the time.
Regarding the President’s second post about not attending Joe Biden’s Inauguration ceremony, Twitter’s safety team ultimately concluded that he did not violate the company’s terms of service.
“…it’s a clear no vio. It’s just to say he’s not attending the inauguration,” wrote one Twitter staffer.
18. Next, Twitter’s safety team decides that Trump’s 7:44 am ET tweet is also not in violation. They are unequivocal: “it’s a clear no vio. It’s just to say he’s not attending the inauguration” pic.twitter.com/zdxSsG1UBS
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
Despite insiders noting that President Trump’s two tweets explicitly did not violate the big tech platform’s ToS, Twitter’s censorship czar Vijaya Gadde pushed for his permanent suspension while simultaneously admitting that the posts did not constitute a “rule violation on its face.”
27. A few minutes later, Twitter employees on the “scaled enforcement team” suggest that Trump’s tweet may have violated Twitter’s Glorification of Violence policy—if you interpreted the phrase “American Patriots” to refer to the rioters. pic.twitter.com/Wszq4zBqnW
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
For additional context into the unequal standard that President Trump was being held to compared to other heads of state in Iran, Ethiopia, Malaysia, India, and Nigeria, Weiss revealed that the company had allowed foreign dictators to openly violate terms of service without facing permanent suspension.
“In June 2018, Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted, “#Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible and it will happen.’ Twitter neither deleted the tweet nor banned the Ayatollah,” Weiss explained.
“In October 2020, the former Malaysian Prime Minister said it was ‘a right’ for Muslims to ‘kill millions of French people.’ Twitter deleted his tweet for ‘glorifying violence,’ but he remains on the platform,” Weiss added.
21. In October 2020, the former Malaysian Prime Minister said it was “a right” for Muslims to “kill millions of French people.”
Twitter deleted his tweet for “glorifying violence,” but he remains on the platform. The tweet below was taken from the Wayback Machine: pic.twitter.com/7tgxgCw9I9
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
“Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria, incited violence against pro-Biafra groups. ‘Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war,’ he wrote, ‘will treat them in the language they understand.’ Twitter deleted the tweet but didn’t ban Buhari,” Weiss wrote.
“In October 2021, Twitter allowed Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to call on citizens to take up arms against the Tigray region. Twitter allowed the tweet to remain up, and did not ban the prime minister,” she noted.
23. In October 2021, Twitter allowed Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to call on citizens to take up arms against the Tigray region.
Twitter allowed the tweet to remain up, and did not ban the prime minister. pic.twitter.com/DThmGsJM1r
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
“In early February 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government threatened to arrest Twitter employees in India, and to incarcerate them for up to seven years after they restored hundreds of accounts that had been critical of him. Twitter did not ban Modi,” she revealed.
25. But Twitter executives did ban Trump, even though key staffers said that Trump had not incited violence—not even in a “coded” way.
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
“But Twitter executives did ban Trump, even though key staffers said that Trump had not incited violence — not even in a ‘coded’ way.”
