FBI shielding records of conversations with Twitter over election “misinformation”
- May 30, 2023
EXCLUSIVE — The FBI is blocking the release of records of officials privately “advising” Twitter employees on how to thwart purported election “misinformation” on the social media platform, documents show.
Officials at the FBI repeatedly flagged alleged examples of election “misinformation” in early 2020 and late 2022 to Twitter under its then-CEO Jack Dorsey, with the platform in some cases removing accounts shortly after government outreach, according to emails published by journalist Matt Taibbi in December 2022 as part of the “Twitter Files.”
However, the bureau has closed a sweeping records request from the Right-leaning watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust that aims to uncover more information about this apparent partnership, claiming an “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” could exist.
“The FBI’s response to these requests is nothing short of bizarre,” Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, told the Washington Examiner. “They twisted the substance of the requests and then asserted the right to deny acknowledging if records even exist based upon their mangled interpretation, and even though they have already admitted that the records exist.”
This exchange, and others like it, led Protect the Public’s Trust to launch a sweeping Freedom of Information Act request investigation in March.
“There is no substantial privacy interest in the entirety of the requested records,” Protect the Public’s Trust wrote in one appeal regarding a rejected request for communications records between Roth and employees at the Foreign Influence Task Force.