Twitter Files: The FBI Frequently Flagged Joke Tweets, Asked for Moderation

Michie · Dec 17, 2022

Maybe the FBI has something better to do with its time?

FBI agents communicated regularly with content moderators at Twitter, and frequently asked for tweets to be taken down for allegedly violating the platforms' policies against election-related misinformation. The conversations were so numerous—including emails and weekly meetings—that a top Twitter staffer came to describe the relationship between the company and law enforcement as "government-industry sync."

That's according to the latest installment of the Twitter Files, which was released by independent journalist Matt Taibbi on Friday.

The FBI frequently recommended that content moderators look into specific tweets and take action against them if they violated misinformation policies. Many of these tweets were from users with very low follower counts who had engaged in satire or humor. The FBI flagged user Claire Foster, who had tweeted "I'm a ballot counter in my state. If you're not wearing a mask, I'm not counting your vote. #safetyfirst" and "For every negative comment on this post I'm adding another vote for the democrats."

These comments probably sound like satire to most people, but the FBI apparently thinks election integrity is no laughing matter. You would be forgiven for wondering whether top law enforcement officials have anything better to do with their time than police jokes on Twitter.

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