When confronted with mountains of evidence demonstrating that the FBI was operating a complicated campaign to influence public opinion, the only way out was to paint the whole thing as a conspiracy and hope that no one would notice. Except that it isn’t, and even liberal authors have pointed out the repulsive character of this operation; for example, former Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi has appropriately described the FBI’s connection with Twitter as “master-canine.” Eighty agents were explicitly assigned to this mission to monitor social media for anything that may be used to discredit Joe Biden and the Democrats.
Once upon a time, the FBI took great pleasure in being an impartial organization whose investigative expertise and professionalism made it the premier domestic law enforcement and intelligence agency. The 2016 election completely depleted that credibility, which had been built up for a century. For the FBI, the rule of not meddling in elections was sacrosanct. That is expected of you now. The government exploited a social media platform to avoid breaking the constitution by conducting illegal surveillance.
Since the agency has been exposed, it can no longer treat its interactions with Twitter as anything other than conspiracy theory fodder. It’s predictable, and I think Congress should drag FBI Director Chris Wray in front of certain committees to shed light on the goings-on within the J. Edgar Hoover Building (via Mediaite):
According to the FBI’s statement, the interactions revealed in the Twitter Files demonstrating the social media platform’s cooperation with the FBI are not unusual but an illustration of the FBI’s efforts to safeguard businesses and their consumers.
To quote the FBI:
The communications between the FBI and Twitter are typical instances of the federal government’s and the private sector’s historical and ongoing involvement with various organizations across various sectors and industries. The FBI, as demonstrated by the letters, shares vital information with the private sector to help it safeguard itself and its consumers. Every day, FBI agents risk their lives to keep Americans safe. To try and undermine the agency, it is terrible that conspiracy theorists and others are spreading false information to the American people.
This week, Lee Fang of The Intercept disclosed new Twitter files claiming the company “provided clearance & special protection to the U.S. military’s online psychological impact activities” despite publicly stating they were working against such attempts. The documents claim that Twitter prefers bogus accounts that want to propagate messages internationally.
And now, according to the newest leak by journalist Lee Fang, Twitter and the Pentagon have been conducting what looks like psyops. This is not the norm in any way. It’s abnormal for the FBI to serve as the political Gestapo for the Democrats.