The Reckoning: Twitter Files Exposed the Truth, Trump’s Victory Sealed Big Tech’s Transformation

Do you remember Twitter Files? Big Tech leaders (Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz) certainly do, repeatedly discussing them and the Files' influence on recent podcasts.

Twitter Files. Shortly after Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022, he promised to invite select investigative journalists with a New Media bent into the company's offices. Soon, Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss, Michael Shellenberger, Lee Fang, David Zweig, and Alex Berenson looked through a treasure trove of tweets and internal discussions of the legacy Twitter Trust and Security Team and published their findings.

The journalists had access to nearly every suppressed tweet, every banned account—temporarily or permanently—and, most importantly, the reasons why. The findings shocked the world and invited the first coordinated response from the Democrats and the Liberal Media universe toward Elon Musk. Large companies, to curry favor of the Biden administration, engaged in an advertising boycott of the Twitter platform, saying that Musk's relaxed content moderation and the massive layoffs of those teams were proof that X was "not safe" for their customers. Leading the charge were the so-called third-party fact checkers like Media Matters and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). It mattered little to the companies engaged in the boycotts that GARM co-founder Rob Rakowitz nursed a deep bias against conservative viewpoints and had expressed views critical of free speech online and the U.S. Constitution.

The independent journalists' discovery centered on three key aspects, resulting in a tectonic shift in Big Tech's policies.

Content Moderation: Twitter's internal practices regarding content moderation, particularly focusing on controversial decisions like the suppression of the New York Post's 2020 Hunter Biden laptop story, were particularly shameful and amounted to election interference. Initially, links to this story were blocked. Although Twitter's actions were later reversed, with the company admitting to policy misapplications, the incident highlighted how a leading social media company handled potentially hacked materials during election times.

Appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg—who initially led his company’s suppression of the Hunter Biden story alongside other Big Tech firms—did a complete 180-degree turn, acknowledging how government officials had misled him to suppressing the Hunter Biden story. The billionaire, who had contributed nearly $400 million to the infamous Zuckbucks campaign primarily to large Democratic constituencies, explained that Meta initially demoted this story due to an FBI warning about potential Russian disinformation. Later, he acknowledged that this was a mistake since the story wasn't disinformation, and Meta has since changed its policy not to demote content in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers.

On January 7, Joel Kaplan, Meta's Chief Global Affairs Officer, went even further in the company's attempts to make amends with President Trump, MAGA Americans, and the company's large subscriber base (3.2 billion unique visits to Meta properties each month). Kaplan announced that Meta would no longer rely on third-party fact-checking programs and move to a Community Notes model, championed by Musk on his X platform. Goodbye, Media Matters and GARM.

Meta’s move to end its traditional fact-checking system has been met with mixed reactions. A recent I&I/TIPP Poll shows that 43% of Americans believe it will enhance free speech, but 32% disagree, and nearly a quarter (24%) remain uncertain. While this marks a victory for free speech advocates, the data reveals that trust in Big Tech remains fragile—public skepticism lingers.

Further, while Meta’s shift from fact-checkers toward a Community Notes model signals a step toward user-driven moderation, Americans remain skeptical. According to the poll, only 26% believe the new approach will be more effective, while a staggering 40% are unsure.

Government Influence: The Twitter Files journalists found that the federal government was involved in forcing Big Tech to allow permitted speech (such as CDC diktats during COVID-19) and suppressing any speech that questioned the Biden White House regarding vaccinations, the efficacy of the vaccines, or alternative therapies to the pandemic. The government did not interfere directly because that would violate the Free Speech Clause in the Constitution. So, the government paid non-governmental agencies (NGOs) to enforce content moderation.

On the Rogan podcast, Zuckerberg confirmed this Biden administration practice, saying that often, Meta's relationship with the government turned "adversarial," a shocking admission of governmental interference in the running of a private company. In 2021, senior officials from the Biden administration, including those from the White House, "repeatedly pressured" Meta's teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content. This included even humor and satire. Zuckerberg noted that the administration expressed frustration when Meta did not comply with their demands.

Political Bias: The journalists' report suggested a liberal bias within Twitter's employee base, which influenced content moderation. Evidence was presented of Twitter using "blacklists" to limit the visibility of certain accounts or topics, a practice carried out covertly without informing users. The documents include internal communications showing Twitter executives and employees grappling with decisions, often under pressure from political figures and external entities. These decisions included judgments on account bans, such as the suspension of former President Donald Trump after the January 6 Capitol attack. All major Big Tech companies banned Trump during his final two weeks in office.

Trump's landslide victory last November has compelled Big Tech to look inward, understand its flaws, and implement policy changes. Meta's Kaplan acknowledged that the platforms had become censorship engines for Big Government:

"That's not how things played out, especially in the United States. Experts, like everyone else, have their own biases and perspectives. This showed up in the choices some made about what to fact-check and how. Over time, we ended up with too much content being fact-checked that people would understand to be legitimate political speech and debate. Our system then attached real consequences in the form of intrusive labels and reduced distribution. A program intended to inform too often became a tool to censor."

Meta’s decision to recalibrate its moderation policies is not just about free speech—it’s also about retaining its user base. The TIPP Poll reveals that younger users (18-24) are the most receptive to these changes, with 44% saying they’re more likely to use Meta platforms as a result. By contrast, only 8% of seniors (65+) share that enthusiasm. This suggests that Big Tech’s realignment is as much about user retention as it is about responding to political pressure.

History will show that Musk's acquisition of Twitter changed not only Twitter but Big Tech, as well. Twitter Files dealt a death blow to Legacy Media's monopoly, which is struggling to stay relevant as New Media now dominates the landscape. In November 2023, The Free Press, an independent newspaper, along with Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger, won the inaugural Dao Prize for its work on the Twitter Files. The award was a powerful rebuke against censorship in mainstream media and Big Tech platforms. Matt Taibbi also received the inaugural Samizdat Prize from RealClearPolitics, a prestigious honor.

For years, Trump was mocked for calling out 'fake news.' Big Tech’s mea culpa and pivot toward Trump now prove—he was right all along.

Editor's Recommendations

Matt Taibbi discusses what he found in "The Twitter Files" at RCP''s first Samizdat Prize award ceremony last month and what the public needs to know about censorship and free speech.

Matt Taibbi's Dao Prize Acceptance Speech

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