Twitter Refused Adam Schiff Request To Censor Biden Meme Because ‘Any Reasonable Observer’ Could Tell It Was Fake
The latest Twitter Files report suggests Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) made frequent requests to Twitter to take down posts, one of which was flat-out denied as the company felt “any reasonable observer” knew the image in question was fake.
Journalist Matt Taibbi released the newest dump of internal documents from Twitter, approved by new owner Elon Musk. According to Taibbi, Schiff’s staff wrote to Twitter with requests frequently and wasn’t always ready to accept no for an answer.
“Staff of House Democrat @AdamSchiff wrote to Twitter quite often, asking that tweets be taken down. This important use of taxpayer resources involved an ask about a ‘Peter Douche’ parody photo of Joe Biden. The DNC made the same request,” Taibbi reported on Friday.
The photo in question is an altered image of Biden with his tongue sticking out. Schiff’s staff took issue with the picture and requested the doctored image being used for memes be removed. Twitter refused and explained the image was obviously altered intentionally for comical effect to most viewers.
Taibbi reported:
The real issue was Donald Trump retweeted the Biden pic. To its credit Twitter refused to remove it, with Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth saying it had obvious “humorous intent” and “any reasonable observer” – apparently, not a Schiff staffer – could see it was doctored.
Schiff’s office argued there is a “slippery slope concern,” but Twitter did not give in. Schiff was previously under the spotlight thanks to Twitter Files documents showing he requested a journalist be suspended. The request was denied at that time, but the reporter has since said he’s mulling legal action as he was suspended from the platform months later.
Other Schiff requests were denied, many involving content about the congressman and his staff, according to the report.
The documents also show the Democrat took issue with Twitter’s strategy of deamplifying QAnon accounts as he wanted it to be easier for law enforcement to track individuals.
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