Twitter Files – An In Depth Analysis – Part 1
Twitter Files – An In Depth Analysis – Part 1, By Stephen Phillips 3:14pm P.S.T
December 24, 2022
The Twitter Files Background History
In order to fully grasp the significance of the chain of events that led up to Elon Musk’s Purchasing of Twitter on October 27th, 2022. and subsequently the release of the Twitter Files on December 2nd, 2022. We need to understand the context which led up to this point.
For the sake of time and for a good thorough rundown of the events that led up to the Twitter Files Drops
We are going to reference an article by ABC News Titled “A timeline of Elon Musk’s tumultuous Twitter acquisition”, Published on November 11th, 2022
The richest person in the world said he wanted to own one of the most popular social media platforms — until he said he didn’t. In early October, he reversed course again, saying he wanted to complete the deal.
On Oct. 28, he finally did.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk completed the deal to acquire Twitter at his original offer price of $54.20 a share at a total cost of roughly $44 billion.
In the ensuing days, Musk fired top executives, laid off half of the company’s staff, formed a content moderation council that will review account reinstatements and revamped the platform’s subscription service.
ABC News Titled “A timeline of Elon Musk’s tumultuous Twitter acquisition”, Published on November 11th, 2022
The changes at Twitter mark the latest chapter in a monthslong saga that began in January when Musk started investing in the social media company.
ABC News Titled “A timeline of Elon Musk’s tumultuous Twitter acquisition”, Published on November 11th, 2022
The article then segues into the twitter/musk timeline of events that started it all.
Late January – Musk begins investing in Twitter, according to information filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in April.
March 14 – Musk’s stake in Twitter reaches 9.2%, making him the largest shareholder in the company, according to a securities filing.
April 4 – In a securities filing, Musk discloses his stake in Twitter. Based on the price of Twitter shares at close of the previous trading day, his stake was worth $2.89 billion. Twitter shares rise more than 27% on the announcement.
April 5 – Twitter announces Musk will join the company’s board of directors.
“He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term,” Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said on the platform. “Welcome Elon!”
ABC News Titled “A timeline of Elon Musk’s tumultuous Twitter acquisition”, Published on November 11th, 2022
April 10 – Musk says he will not join the Twitter board after all.
“There will be distractions ahead but our goals and priorities remain unchanged,” Agrawal said in a statement announcing Musk’s choice. “The decisions we make and how we make them remain in our hands, no one else’s.”
April 14 – Musk offers to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share, valuing the company at about $43 billion, according to a securities filing. The offer amounts to a 38% premium above where the price stood a day before Musk’s investment in Twitter became public.
“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”
ABC News Titled “A timeline of Elon Musk’s tumultuous Twitter acquisition”, Published on November 11th, 2022
April 15 – Twitter adopts a poison pill provision to prevent the Musk acquisition. A poison pill allows current stockholders to purchase additional shares at a discounted price, diluting the shares owned by Musk and making it more expensive for him to buy the company. In an announcement, Twitter said the poison pill will be triggered if any individual or entity acquires at least 15% of the company’s shares.
April 21 – Musk says in a securities filing that he has garnered commitments of about $46.5 billion in financing for a possible Twitter acquisition.
April 25 – Twitter accepts Musk’s offer to acquire the company and values the deal at $44 billion, according to an announcement from the company.
ABC News Titled “A timeline of Elon Musk’s tumultuous Twitter acquisition”, Published on November 11th, 2022
Continuing on the timeline of events…
April 29 – Over a three-day period after Musk and Twitter reach a deal, and he sells about $8.5 billion worth in Tesla stock to help finance the bid.
May 4 – Musk secures more than $7 billion in financing for the deal, including commitments from Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and cryptocurrency exchange Binance, according to a securities filing.
May 6 – In a pitch deck for investors, Musk says he will quintuple Twitter’s revenue by 2028, increasing annual earnings to $26.4 billion, the New York Times reports.
May 10 – Musk says he would reverse Twitter’s ban of the account that belongs to former President Donald Trump. The remarks from Musk were made virtually at an auto conference.
May 12 – Twitter announces a temporary hiring freeze, pending Musk’s acquisition; and two top executives leave the company.
May 13 – Musk tweets that the Twitter deal is “temporarily on hold,” citing concern over what he says is the prevalence of bot and spam accounts on the platform.
Along with his tweet, Musk posts a Reuters report about a public filing from Twitter earlier in May that said fake accounts made up less than 5% of users on the platform. Apparently skeptical of the finding, Musk says he wants “details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users.”
Roughly two hours later, Musk says he’s “still committed” to the deal.
ABC News Titled “A timeline of Elon Musk’s tumultuous Twitter acquisition”, Published on November 11th, 2022
The article continues…
At the time, market analysts told ABC News the worry over fake accounts could serve as a pretext for Musk to bargain a lower price for the acquisition or abandon the effort altogether.
May 26 – Twitter shareholders bring a class-action lawsuit against Musk over alleged stock manipulation tied to the tumultuous acquisition process. At the time, Twitter’s stock had fallen more than 12% since Musk announced his bid.
June 6 – Musk threatens to pull out of the deal if Twitter doesn’t provide additional information about the prevalence of bots on its platform. In a statement, Twitter said it had been sharing information with Musk “in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement.”
July 8 – Musk moves to terminate his acquisition of Twitter, pointing to the issue of fake accounts.
“Mr. Musk has sought the data and information necessary to ‘make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform'” and did not receive it, a securities filing said.
In an email on disclosed in a securities filing on Sunday, an attorney representing Twitter rejected Musk’s effort to abandon the acquisition. “The purported termination is invalid,” the attorney wrote, arguing that Musk had “knowingly, intentionally, willfully, and materially breached the Agreement.”
“As it has done, Twitter will continue to provide information reasonably requested by Mr. Musk under the Agreement,” the attorneys added.
July 12 – Twitter sues Musk in Chancery Court in Delaware to force him to complete the deal.
“Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests,” Twitter said in the lawsuit. “Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away.”
Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
If permitted to abandon the deal, Musk may be forced to pay a $1 billion termination fee.
ABC News Titled “A timeline of Elon Musk’s tumultuous Twitter acquisition”, Published on November 11th, 2022
At this point it should be obvious to anyone who is paying attention that Elon Musk is clearly toying with the powers that be. The article continues.
July 19 – A Delaware court determines that the trial in a lawsuit brought by Twitter against Elon Musk should take place in October, granting an expedited timeline for the case.
Aug. 23 – News breaks that former Twitter Head of Security Peiter Zatko alleged in a federal whistleblower complaint that the social media giant had numerous wide-ranging information security system lapses, according to a copy of the complaint made public.
In response, Twitter blasted Zatko, who worked at the company from November 2020 to January 2022, saying he was spreading a “false narrative about Twitter” and was fired for “ineffective leadership and poor performance.”
Oct. 4 – Musk proposes the completion of a deal to acquire Twitter, reversing a monthslong effort to terminate the agreement. The proposal would complete the deal at Musk’s original offer price of $54.20 a share at a total cost of roughly $44 billion, a person familiar with the proposal told ABC News.
ABC News Titled “A timeline of Elon Musk’s tumultuous Twitter acquisition”, Published on November 11th, 2022
And finally the monumental and historic Acquisition of Twitter into the hands of Musk..
Oct. 28 – Musk closes a deal to acquire Twitter on the final day before the Delaware Chancery Court trial would have moved forward. Some of Twitter’s top executives were fired, including CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde and general counsel Sam Edgett, according to a source.
Musk said that he will forgo any significant content moderation or account reinstatement decisions until after the formation of a new committee devoted to the issues.
“Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints,” Musk tweeted. “No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”
Nov. 4 – Twitter begins layoffs that will cut roughly half of its 7,500-person workforce, the company announced in an email.
“Today is your last working day at the company,” the email said, which ABC News has reviewed. The subject line read “Your Role at Twitter” and was sent to the personal email addresses of those laid off.
ABC News Titled “A timeline of Elon Musk’s tumultuous Twitter acquisition”, Published on November 11th, 2022
The remainder of this article will cover the first 8 Twitter File Drops
Which began December 2nd, 2022! The most recent being Part 8 which was released on December 20th, 2022 at 12:02 pm.
On December 2nd, 2022. The first, in what would become a series of file drops.
Known as the Twitter Files, began with part 1 revealed by Matt Taibbi through his twitter account.
Thread: THE TWITTER FILES PART 1
1. Thread: THE TWITTER FILES
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 2, 2022
PART 2
TWITTER’S SECRET BLACKLISTS.
THREAD: THE TWITTER FILES PART TWO.
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
TWITTER’S SECRET BLACKLISTS.
PART 3
THE REMOVAL OF DONALD TRUMP
Part One: October 2020-January 6th
1. THREAD: The Twitter Files
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 9, 2022
THE REMOVAL OF DONALD TRUMP
Part One: October 2020-January 6th
PART 4
The Removal of Donald Trump: January 7
1. TWITTER FILES, PART 4
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 10, 2022
The Removal of Donald Trump: January 7
As the pressure builds, Twitter executives build the case for a permanent ban
PART 5.
THE REMOVAL OF TRUMP FROM TWITTER.
THREAD: THE TWITTER FILES PART FIVE.
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
THE REMOVAL OF TRUMP FROM TWITTER.
PART 6
TWITTER, THE FBI SUBSIDIARY
1. THREAD: The Twitter Files, Part Six
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 16, 2022
TWITTER, THE FBI SUBSIDIARY
PART 7
The FBI & the Hunter Biden Laptop
1. TWITTER FILES: PART 7
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
The FBI & the Hunter Biden Laptop
How the FBI & intelligence community discredited factual information about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings both after and *before* The New York Post revealed the contents of his laptop on October 14, 2020
PART 8
How Twitter Quietly Aided the Pentagon’s Covert Online PsyOp Campaign
1. TWITTER FILES PART 8
— Lee Fang (@lhfang) December 20, 2022
*How Twitter Quietly Aided the Pentagon’s Covert Online PsyOp Campaign*
Despite promises to shut down covert state-run propaganda networks, Twitter docs show that the social media giant directly assisted the U.S. military’s influence operations.
Twitter Files – If anything is clear at all it is this. We truly live in amazing and historic times.
We are literally witnessing the utter and total collapse of corruption in our systems of government, three letter agencies, and collusion between government/political interests and the private sector. It’s all being exposed and the receipts are legit. It will be interesting to see what unfolds in the remaining Twitter File drops to come. We will keep you up to date as they become released.
Updated on 12-27-2022 at 1:16pm pst. To reflect the Twitter Files Parts 9 & 10 Drops
On Christmas Eve, December 24th, 2022 at 9:20 am. Part 9 of the Twitter Files Was Release. This File drop is the first installment of the Twitter Covid Files.
1.THREAD: The Twitter Files
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022
TWITTER AND “OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES”
And finally Part 10 of the Twitter Files Was Released on December 26th, 2022 at 6:10 am. by David Zweig
This is the second installment of the Covid Twitter Files.
1. THREAD:
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022
THE TWITTER FILES: HOW TWITTER RIGGED THE COVID DEBATE
– By censoring info that was true but inconvenient to U.S. govt. policy
– By discrediting doctors and other experts who disagreed
– By suppressing ordinary users, including some sharing the CDC’s *own data*
Updated January 5th, 2023 at 3:50pm p.s.t. to reflect the release of The Twitter Files Parts 11 & 12
On January 3rd 2023, The Twitter Files Parts 11 & 12 were released by Matt Taibbi
The Twitter Files Part 11 How Twitter Let the Intelligence Community In.
Was released on 1-3-2023 at 12:27pm
1.THREAD: The Twitter Files
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
How Twitter Let the Intelligence Community In
And shortly after Matt Taibbi released Part 11 He then Released Part 12 Twitter and the FBI “Belly Button”
Part 12 was released by Matt Taibbi on January 3rd, 2023 at 1:54pm
1.THREAD: The Twitter Files
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
Twitter and the FBI “Belly Button” pic.twitter.com/nfOGQGlvUM
We will update this article as needed as more Twitter File Installments are released in order to reflect the updates.
