'Twitter Files': 5 findings on Trump ban, Michelle Obama and gov't influence

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, December 13, 2022

The latest releases in Elon Musk's "Twitter Files" series shed light on the events leading up to the permanent ban on former President Donald Trump's Twitter account, suggesting that external pressure from federal officials played a role in decisions to censor election-related tweets before the 2020 presidential election.

Independent journalists Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger released Part 3 and Part 4 of the "Twitter Files" over the weekend, and Bari Weiss published Part 5 on Monday.

The series of tweet threads highlighted a push from inside and outside the company to censor then-President Trump in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. 

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The documents were submitted to the independent journalists by newly minted Twitter CEO Musk, who purchased the company in October.

The documents suggest there were efforts by Twitter officials to suppress the public's ability to access information that reflected negatively on then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and the Democratic Party in the days leading up to the 2020 election. 

The first installment of the "Twitter Files," released on Dec. 2, detailed efforts to limit the reach and discredit the New York Post's reporting concerning content on Hunter Biden's laptop. The article reported how the then-vice president's son introduced his father to a top official at a Ukrainian energy company less than a year before the elder Biden urged the Ukrainian government to fire a prosecutor investigating the company. 

Additional "Twitter Files" released six days later illustrated Twitter's campaign to "blacklist" accounts that shared information disfavored by officials within the company who are aligned with the stances of the Democratic Party. 

Unlike the first two sets of documents, the latest installments of the "Twitter Files" deal directly with company activities related to then-President Donald Trump.

The following pages highlight five things to know about the latest findings from the "Twitter Files."