https://sputnikglobe.com/20230608/fbi-worked-with-ukrainian-intelligence-services-to-censor-twitter-users-get-personal-data-1110992851.html
FBI Worked With Ukrainian Intelligence Services to Censor Twitter Users, Get Personal Data
FBI Worked With Ukrainian Intelligence Services to Censor Twitter Users, Get Personal Data
Sputnik International
The Ukrainian Intelligence Services and the FBI worked together in an attempt to censor Twitter users and reveal their personal data.
2023-06-08T00:50+0000
2023-06-08T00:50+0000
2023-06-08T00:49+0000
world
yoel roth
elon musk
russia
kiev
x (formerly twitter)
ukrainian security service (sbu)
fbi
ukraine
censorship
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The latest Twitter Files release revealed that the FBI worked with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in an attempt to pressure Twitter to censor accounts that ran counter to Ukraine’s narrative and requested the personal information of those users.In a series of emails revealed by investigative journalist Aaron Mate on Wednesday, the SBU and FBI asked Twitter to remove 163 accounts the FBI said “are suspected by the SBU in spreading fear and disinformation.”The list included members of the media, including Mate, along with Russian politicians, media outlets, Canadian and American journalists and Ukrainian nationals.In March 2022, shortly after the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, FBI special agent Aleksandr Kobzanets, the assistant legal attache at the US Embassy in Kiev, sent an email to two Twitter executives: Twitter’s then-Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth, who left the company in December 2022, and another official whose name Mate redacted.Four additional FBI agents were copied on the email, including Elvis Chan, who the Twitter Files revealed was in regular contact with the social media company for censorship requests, including those related to the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story shortly before the 2020 election.The SBU alleged Russia “uses hybrid methods of war in the form of a powerful information campaign using social media and social networks,” and claimed the Twitter accounts on their list “are used to disseminate disinformation and fake news to inaccurately reflect events in Ukraine, justify war crimes of the Russian authorities on the territory of the Ukrainian state in violation of international law.”After listing the accounts, the SBU asked the social media site “to block these Twitter accounts and provide us with user data specified during registration.”According to the emails, Roth seemingly denied the request, saying they would “review the reported accounts under our rules,” but noted they would focus “on identifying any potential inauthenticity.”He added that any additional context provided in “those areas” would be welcomed but Kobzanets replied that it was “unlikely there will be any additional information or context."Roth did forward the email to other Twitter executives, calling the list a "mixed-bag" but added that he thinks "a deep dive is warranted."Of the 163 targeted accounts, 34 were suspended and 20 no longer exist. The rest appear to be active. Some of the accounts still active include Russian politicians Gennady Zyuganov, a longtime Communist party member, former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Sergey Mironov, a Russian parliamentarian. Russian journalists Vladimir Solovyov and Editor-in-Chief of the RT broadcaster and the Rossiya Segodnya media group Margarita Simonyan were also on the list.The list also included Ukrainian nationals Anatoly Shariy, a blogger and politician who fled Ukraine in 2012 and Andriy Portnov, a Ukrainian lawyer and politician.Had Twitter complied with the request, not only would the accounts have been censored, but they also would have had their personal information given to the FBI and Ukraine’s intelligence organization, including their phone number, email address and date of birth.Ukraine has been actively trying to silence foreign voices that counter its narrative on the conflict, with the infamous Myrotvorets website maintaining a list of what it deems “enemies of Ukraine.” The list has been called a “kill list” and when a person on the list dies, as happened when Russian journalist Darya Dugina was murdered, it marks them as “liquidated.”Mate is among several Western journalists who have been added to the list, including Sputnik journalist Wyatt Reed and The Greyzone's Anya Parampil.The expose comes a week after investigative reporter Lee Fang revealed the FBI similarly pressured Facebook* at the behest of the SBU.*Facebook is banned in Russia for extremist activities.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230131/twitter-files-exposes-scam-ilton-68-hoax-rand-report-on-ukraine-german-political-discord-1106839860.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230601/eu-ban-on-twitter-over-refusal-to-censor-posts-is-new-mccarthyism-1110843563.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20220919/mirotvorets-kill-list-west-left-its-own-people-to-mercy-of-ukraines-gestapo-website-journo-says-1100976609.html
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censorship, ukrainian hit list, myrotvorets, twitter censorship, big tech and government working together, internet censorship
censorship, ukrainian hit list, myrotvorets, twitter censorship, big tech and government working together, internet censorship
FBI Worked With Ukrainian Intelligence Services to Censor Twitter Users, Get Personal Data
The Twitter Files is an on-going series of disclosures resulting from a trove of documents given to select journalists by Twitter owner Elon Musk.
The latest Twitter Files release revealed that the FBI worked with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in an attempt to pressure Twitter to censor accounts that ran counter to Ukraine’s narrative and requested the personal information of those users.
In a series of emails revealed by investigative journalist Aaron Mate on Wednesday, the SBU and FBI asked Twitter to remove 163 accounts the FBI said “are suspected by the SBU in spreading fear and disinformation.”
The list included members of the media, including Mate, along with Russian politicians, media outlets, Canadian and American journalists and Ukrainian nationals.
Writing in his substack, Mate called it “among the most overt requests for censorship revealed to date in the Twitter Files.”
In March 2022, shortly after the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, FBI special agent Aleksandr Kobzanets, the assistant legal attache at the US Embassy in Kiev, sent an email to two Twitter executives: Twitter’s then-Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth, who left the company in December 2022, and another official whose name Mate redacted.
31 January 2023, 04:26 GMT
Four additional FBI agents were copied on the email, including Elvis Chan, who the Twitter Files revealed was in regular contact with the social media company for censorship requests, including those related to the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story shortly before the 2020 election.
The SBU alleged Russia “uses hybrid methods of war in the form of a powerful information campaign using social media and social networks,” and claimed the Twitter accounts on their list “are used to disseminate disinformation and fake news to inaccurately reflect events in Ukraine, justify war crimes of the Russian authorities on the territory of the Ukrainian state in violation of international law.”
After listing the accounts, the SBU asked the social media site “to block these Twitter accounts and provide us with user data specified during registration.”
According to the emails, Roth seemingly denied the request, saying they would “review the reported accounts under our rules,” but noted they would focus “on identifying any potential inauthenticity.”
“In general, though, authentic news outlets and reporters who cover the conflict with a pro-Russian stance are unlikely to be found in violation of our rules absent other context that might establish some kind of covert/deceptive association between them and a government," the Twitter official warned.
He added that any additional context provided in “those areas” would be welcomed but Kobzanets replied that it was “unlikely there will be any additional information or context."
Roth did forward the email to other Twitter executives, calling the list a "mixed-bag" but added that he thinks "a deep dive is warranted."
Of the 163 targeted accounts, 34 were suspended and 20 no longer exist. The rest appear to be active.
Some of the accounts still active include Russian politicians Gennady Zyuganov, a longtime Communist party member, former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Sergey Mironov, a Russian parliamentarian. Russian journalists Vladimir Solovyov and Editor-in-Chief of the RT broadcaster and the Rossiya Segodnya media group Margarita Simonyan were also on the list.
The list also included Ukrainian nationals Anatoly Shariy, a blogger and politician who fled Ukraine in 2012 and Andriy Portnov, a Ukrainian lawyer and politician.
Had Twitter complied with the request, not only would the accounts have been censored, but they also would have had their personal information given to the FBI and Ukraine’s intelligence organization, including their phone number, email address and date of birth.
Ukraine has been actively trying to silence foreign voices that counter its narrative on the conflict, with the infamous Myrotvorets website maintaining a list of what it deems “enemies of Ukraine.” The list has been called a “kill list” and when a person on the list dies, as happened when Russian journalist Darya Dugina was murdered, it marks them as “liquidated.”
19 September 2022, 16:07 GMT
Mate is among several Western journalists who have been added to the list, including Sputnik journalist Wyatt Reed and The Greyzone's Anya Parampil.
The expose comes a week after investigative reporter Lee Fang revealed the FBI
similarly pressured Facebook* at the behest of the SBU.
*Facebook is banned in Russia for extremist activities.
