Two independent journalists given access to Elon Musk’s Twitter Files vault warned lawmakers Thursday of a sprawling “censorship industrial complex” that has eroded Americans’ freedom of speech.
Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger appeared before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government in an explosive hearing focused on what Republican lawmakers allege is a sweeping overreach by the federal government to silence disfavored views.
In a sprawling Twitter thread released in the final hour before appearing before the panel, Mr. Taibbi detailed what he said was a vast web of censorship that included online speech monitoring programs spearheaded by nongovernmental organizations, some of which had direct access to Twitter’s platform monitoring system to flag posts and accounts that fell outside the mainstream.
He added, “This is a grave threat to people of all political persuasions. The First Amendment and the American population accustomed to the right to speak is the best defense left against the censorship industrial complex. If there’s anything that Twitter Files show is that we’re in danger of losing this most precious right, without which all democratic rights are impossible.”
The Post’s report, which ran on Oct. 14, 2020, set off an avalanche of embarrassing emails, photos and text messages pulled from the laptop computer. It revealed details about Mr. Biden’s struggles with addiction and his hugely profitable foreign business dealings that critics say smack of influence peddling.
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