The latest edition of the Twitter Files revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was directly colluding with Twitter to shut down free speech.
Jesse Watters reacted to the news Friday. The “Primetime” host pointed out that Twitter’s top censorship chief had over 150 emails from the FBI.
“That’s the kind of relationship we call friends with benefits,” said Watters. “Was the FBI working for Twitter or was Twitter working for the FBI?”
This marks the sixth instalment of the Twitter Files. Journalist Matt Taibbi reiterated that the latest revelations reveal how the government collects and analyzes social media content.
Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive, as if it were a subsidiary,” Taibbi stated.
“The FBI was demanding that Twitter censor jokes,” Watters said. “Why does the Federal Bureau of Investigation care about jokes?”
Watters added that sex traffickers and terrorists are hatching plots and the FBI is focusing on social media for hate.
“Even when Twitter scrambled for justification from some of these requests and Twitter couldn’t find anything they gave them a bunch of Homeland Security mumbo jumbo about Russian disinformation and domestic violent extremism and it worked like a charm,” Watters said.
The FBI reportedly established a task force with a social media concentration, after the 2016 presidential election.
“There were a few Russian bots in 2016 that Hillary said cost her the election, so the FBI cranked up a task force with 80 agents assigned to it,” Watters said.
“All this was going on as FBI agents were working at Twitter and the former top lawyer at the FBI was Twitter’s top lawyer,” he added.
