Is Twitter Censoring a Blockbuster Report on US Drone Assassinations?

Is Twitter Censoring a Blockbuster Report on US Drone Assassinations?


Written by Jordan Pearson - Staff Writer (Canada)

October 19, 2015 // 12:09 PM EST

Twitter is limiting certain tweets from appearing on select user accounts, according to activists—including some that mention a blockbuster report from The Intercept that revealed damning information about the US drone campaign in Syria and Yemen.

It’s not clear at the moment whether the disappearing tweets are due to a weird bug, or whether the company is actually censoring mentions of an in-depth report on how the US military relies on largely unconfirmable data to justify assassinations, among other revelations. While some activists claim that they are being censored, however, other users report that everything is working fine on their end.

Paul Dietrich, an activist and independent analyst of government leaks, published a post on his personal blog where he described how tweets related to The Intercept’s report called “The Drone Papers,” no longer appeared on their authors’ timelines. The posts were still viewable if linked to directly, and when the timelines in question were viewed from behind a VPN—which allows users to browse with an IP in another country—the tweets were there.

But when using a US IP address the tweets might as well have never existed on the users’ timelines in the first place.

Watch more from Motherboard: Buying Guns and Drugs on the Dark Net

At least one tweet unrelated to the drone papers also appears to be hidden. On the timeline of Jacob Appelbaum, a Tor Project developer who retweeted posts Dietrich made about the drone papers which no longer appear on his timeline, an innocuous tweet about a Chromebook was also hidden when Motherboard editor Matthew Braga checked using a Canadian IP address. The tweet was visible from the UK.

“It seems clear that Twitter is now engaged in censorship,” Appelbaum wrote me in an email. “Censorship without transparency is a deceptive practice. Building automated censorship systems is an intentional political decision by Twitter.”

It wouldn’t be the first time Twitter has raised the ire of anti-censorship activists. Twitter agreed to remove tweets if they break the law in certain countries ....

Dietrich wrote me in an encrypted email that he also believes Twitter is targeting individual users in addition to IP-based geolocating. When he tried to view disappeared tweets with a US IP address that he often uses to tweet from behind a VPN, the tweets were gone, he wrote. When he tried again with a US IP that he’d never used before, they were visible.

The issue wasn’t restricted to Dietrich, Appelbaum, or even critics of the US spying or drone programs writ large. Tweets relating to the drone papers disappeared from the timelines of even critics of The Intercept’s reporting on the drone papers, such as security blogger Peter Koop.

“Topping the irony list, Peter Koop asked me to check his timeline for similar issues,” Dietrich wrote me in an encrypted email message. “I found one. He had also [retweeted] my article. It's not visible in his timeline from the US, but is in Germany.”

Dietrich concludes that the tweet removals may be part of the rollout of a feature that lets Twitter identify abusive tweets and “limit their reach.” According to a company blog post from April, the feature is currently in testing, and takes “a wide range of signals and context that frequently correlates with abuse” into account when identifying suspected abusive tweets.

Twitter did not respond to Motherboard’s repeated requests for comment. We will update this post if we hear back.

---

Views: 142

Replies to This Discussion

I know the twits censor Me if I tweet out anything that says "Withdraw Consent..."  Unless it's directed at someOne.  So I don't bother saying that.  I link My article, How to Withdraw Consent, with a line like, "A way We can solve for this mess:."

RSS

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Sandy posted a photo
3 hours ago
Doc Vega posted a blog post
13 hours ago
Saint Quinn favorited Burbia's video
yesterday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
yesterday
Burbia commented on tjdavis's blog post The Jewish Couple That Taught Bob Dylan Hebrew and Introduced Him to Zionism
"Haaretz put this story behind a pay wall. Sali Ariel and Terry Noble were the names of the couple…"
Wednesday
William Heckman is now a member of 12160 Social Network
Wednesday
cheeki kea commented on tjdavis's photo
Wednesday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's video
Thumbnail

This Woman DESTROYED Harley-Davidson's Future Forever

"It's a sad day on the highway. But I guess the show must go on. Watch out for the ruination of…"
Wednesday
cheeki kea posted a video

This Woman DESTROYED Harley-Davidson's Future Forever

This Woman DESTROYED Harley-Davidson's Future ForeverWelcome to Ride Radar – Your Frontline Source for Motorcycle Deals, Trends & Market Mayhem.Looking for t...
Wednesday
tjdavis posted a photo
Wednesday
Burbia posted a status
"Who knew releasing the MLK files and literally deflecting, it ends up implicating himself with the Epstein Files."
Tuesday
Burbia posted a video

Dan Bilzerian DEMOLISHES MAGA Nutjob Patrick Bet-David on His Own Show

Watch as two powerhouse personalities collide in this no-holds-barred debate on one of the world’s most contentious issues. Patrick Bet-David, known for his ...
Monday
Doc Vega's 7 blog posts were featured
Sunday
tjdavis's 2 blog posts were featured
Sunday
Less Prone favorited tjdavis's blog post Track AIPAC
Sunday
FREEDOMROX's blog post was featured

MRNA VACCINES: Question

Hello my fellow sojourners,I know it has been five years since the Plandemic, but one question has…See More
Sunday
Less Prone favorited FREEDOMROX's blog post MRNA VACCINES: Question
Sunday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Jul 19
cheeki kea posted a photo
Jul 19
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Jul 18

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted