Elon Musk has just dropped the latest installment of the “Twitter Files” and exposed a group of shadowy figures behind the fake “Russian disinformation” narrative.
Musk tasked journalist Matt Taibbi to detail the latest release of internal Twitter files.
Taibbi reveals how the group of individuals peddled the “Russian disinfo” narrative and used it massively to censor conservatives online.
A group of very familiar names created “Hamilton 68.”
Taibbi explains that “Hamilton 68” is a computerized “dashboard designed to be used by reporters and academics to measure ‘Russian disinformation.’”
He reveals that the system claimed to target and block “Russian bots” but, instead, it just censored legitimate conservative accounts.
According to Taibbi, even former Twitter executive Yoel Roth believed the system was fraudulent.
“I think we need to just call this out on the bullsh*t it is,” Roth reportedly told his colleagues.
“Falsely accuses a bunch of legitimate right-leaning accounts of being Russian bots.
“Virtually any conclusion drawn from it will take conversations in conservative circles on Twitter and accuse them of being Russian.”
4.“Virtually any conclusion drawn from it will take conversations in conservative circles on Twitter and accuse them of being Russian.” pic.twitter.com/g7Ozzj4ST8
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 27, 2023
According to Taibbi, corporate media outlets and so-called “fact-checkers” have been using Hamilton 68 as an authoritative source to “debunk” information.
Taibbi writes:
“Virtually every major news organization in America is implicated, including NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, and the Washington Post.
“Mother Jones alone did at least 14 stories pegged to the group’s ‘research.’
“Even fact-checking sites like Politifact and Snopes cited Hamilton 68 as a source.
“Hamilton 68 was and is a computerized ‘dashboard’ designed to be used by reporters and academics to measure ‘Russian disinformation.’
“It was the brainchild of former FBI agent (and current MSNBC ‘disinformation expert’) Clint Watts, and backed by the German Marshall Fund and the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a bipartisan think-tank.
“The latter’s advisory panel includes former acting CIA chief Michael Morell, former Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, former Hillary for America chair John Podesta, and onetime Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol.
“The Twitter Files expose Hamilton 68 as a sham,” Taibbi asserts.
“Examining further, Twitter execs were shocked.
“The accounts Hamilton 68 claimed were linked to ‘Russian influence activities online’ were not only overwhelmingly English-language (86%), but mostly ‘legitimate people,’ largely in the U.S., Canada, and Britain.
“Grasping right away that Twitter might be implicated in a moral outrage, they wrote that these account-holders ‘need to know they’ve been unilaterally labeled Russian stooges without evidence or recourse.’
“These people never knew they were used for years to drive hundreds if not thousands of media headlines about supposed Russian bot infiltration of online discussions: about the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, Tulsi Gabbard’s campaign, the #ReleaseTheMemo affair, the Parkland shooting, Donald Trump’s election, the #WalkAway and #IStandWithLaura hashtags, U.S. missile strikes in Syria, the Bernie Sanders campaign, the ‘Blexit’ movement to peel black voters away from Democrats, calls to fire National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, ‘attacks’ on the Mueller investigation, and countless other issues.”
7.The ASD advisory council includes neoconservative writer Bill Kristol, former Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, ex-Hillary for America chief John Podesta, and former heads or deputy heads of the CIA, NSA, and the Department of Homeland Security. pic.twitter.com/Nug3CpF6iK
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 27, 2023
28.What makes this an important story is the sheer scale of the news footprint left by Hamilton 68’s digital McCarthyism. The quantity of headlines and TV segments dwarfs the impact of individual fabulists like Jayson Blair or Stephen Glass. pic.twitter.com/zfyjLb5Tkq
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 27, 2023
READ MORE: George Soros Is Funding Global ‘Fact-Checking’ Network, Investigation Finds
