The FBI and Social media

For John, BLUF:  I am seeing indications in the fringe media that folks think the FBI and other members of the Intelligence Community are in relations with the media, which are too close.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"The FBI and other law enforcement organizations treated Twitter as a 'subsidiary,' flagging numerous accounts for purportedly harmful 'misinformation'..."

From Althouse, by Professor Ann Althouse, 17 December 2022, 10:23 AM .

Here is the lede plus two:

"The FBI and other law enforcement organizations treated Twitter as a 'subsidiary,' flagging numerous accounts for purportedly harmful 'misinformation' since January of 2020, according to the sixth installment of the 'Twitter Files' released Friday. Independent journalist Matt Taibbi described the FBI’s relationship with Twitter as having a 'master-canine quality' with 'constant and pervasive' contact between the bureau and the social media giant.... Friday’s Twitter Files also revealed that the company participated in monthly meetings with not only the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, but also with the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.... Instead of chasing child sex predators or terrorists,' Taibbi summed up in a tweet following the file drop, 'the FBI has agents — lots of them — analyzing and mass-flagging social media posts. Not as part of any criminal investigation, but as a permanent, end-in-itself surveillance operation. People should not be okay with this.' The FBI told the Post on Friday that it... 'regularly engages with private sector entities... [which] independently make decisions about what, if any, action they take on their platforms and for their customers after the FBI has notified them'...."

The NY Post reports.

ALSO: There's this other article in the NY Post: "Twitter’s top ranks riddled with ex-FBI employees" ("More than a dozen former feds flocked to the company in the months and years prior to Elon Musk’s purchase of the social network in October").

I think the new Congress should look into the FBI, and the broader Intelligence Community.  If they can't get witnesses to testify, there is always the power of the purse.  While I think RFK, Jr, may be over the top in claiming his uncle (President John F Kennedy) was killed by the CIA, we have had to much ""trust me" and not enough Congressional Investigations.

We need a more open federal Government.

Hat tip to the Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff