Big tech political censorship, corruption and Democrats have been dominating headlines in recent months, and the latest news on journalist Matt Taibbi is no different. Taibbi is pushing back against Democratic Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s accusation that he “cherry-picked” information from Elon Musk and profiteered off the Twitter Files.
Wasserman Schultz alleged that Taibbi was Musk’s “handpicked journalist” for the Twitter Files. She accused him of violating his own standards, suggesting that he had profited from his work with the Tesla CEO.
“Elon Musk spoon fed you his cherry-picked information which you must have suspected promotes a slanted viewpoint, or at the very least generates a right-wing conspiracy theory, you violated your own standard and you appeared to have benefitted from it,” she said. “Before the release of the emails in August of last year, you had 661,000 Twitter followers. After the Twitter Files, your followers doubled, and now it’s three times what it was last August. I imagine your substack readership, which is a subscription, increased significantly because of your work that you did for Elon Musk.”
Taibbi denied the allegation, saying that he had not crossed any lines and that he had made and spent money he did not have before.
Wasserman Schultz then attempted to shift the conversation to social media companies’ “bias” against conservatives, claiming they were not responsible for allowing “MAGA extremists” to pose a threat to public safety and U.S. democracy.
Taibbi originally released the Twitter Files in December to reveal details surrounding Twitter executives’ political biases and the FBI’s correspondence with the company in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election.
It revealed that Twitter had been closely moderating former President Donald Trump’s account, employing “a vast array of tools for manipulating visibility” and covering it in bots. It also exposed the FBI’s warning of a possible “hack-and-leak” by “state actors” to influence the 2020 presidential election.
Unfortunately, these stories of political censorship, corruption and Democrats are becoming all too common in our current political climate. It’s more important than ever to stay informed and be aware of what’s going on. Taibbi’s Twitter Files are a great example of the power of journalism and the importance of holding powerful people and organizations accountable.
