‘Spineless, Corrupt, Amoral F*ckwits’: Matt Taibbi Rips Mainstream Media Ignoring FTC’s Demand For Twitter to Out Journos
Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via AP
Journalist Matt Taibbi ripped into his “former colleagues in mainstream media” for their indifference to the FTC demanding information on journalists as part of an investigation into Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk.
Democrat Lina Khan‘s FTC is demanding information on virtually every aspect of Twitter under the operating premise that layoffs may have affected the company’s capabilities in protecting private information, the Wall Street Journal revealed this week after a House panel report on the investigation.
Citing documents viewed by its reporters, the WSJ reports that, among the demands made of Twitter by the FTC are the names of journalists with whom the company has shared internal communications as part of the ongoing Twitter Files exposé.
In 12 letters sent to Twitter and its lawyers since Mr. Musk’s Oct. 27 takeover, the FTC also asked the company to “identify all journalists” granted access to company records and to provide information about the launch of the revamped Twitter Blue subscription service, the documents show.
Media reports have largely glossed over that demand. For example, in a CNN report on the FTC investigation on Wednesday, neither Jim Sciutto, Brian Fung, nor Erica Hill mentioned the fact that the FTC was demanding the company reveal communications with journalists.
The letters were released Tuesday by the House Judiciary Committee and Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government in a staff report Tuesday which slammed the investigation.
“There is no logical reason, for example, why the FTC needs to know the identities of journalists engaging with Twitter,” the report said. “There is no logical reason why the FTC, on the basis of user privacy, needs to analyze all of Twitter’s personnel decisions. And there is no logical reason why the FTC needs every single internal Twitter communication about Elon Musk.”
Taibbi and others shared screenshots from the letters in Tweets on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Which journalists a company or its executives talks to is not remotely the government’s business. This is an insane overreach,” wrote Taibbi of the demand.
Which journalists a company or its executives talks to is not remotely the government’s business. This is an insane overreach https://t.co/87JdDQ2s0P
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 7, 2023
Other reactions along similar lines caught not just Taibbi’s attention but Musk’s as well.
The Biden administration’s casual violation of the First Amendment should shock every journalist, even those not fond of @elonmusk. What is the limiting principle? This inquisition could extend to any journalist. https://t.co/7783nxM4RT
— Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) March 7, 2023
This is a serious attack on the Constitution by a federal agency.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023
The lack of reaction by the press at large, which spent a great deal of effort on another staffing-related issue, engendered further criticism.
Perfectly normal for federal investigative body to demand the names of reporters interacting w/ a company. https://t.co/0m3KVEkMJR The entire world would be panicking if the President was a Republican, but this is a Democratic administration, so the NY Times will ignore this pic.twitter.com/04XdXjhbtB
— Paul D. Thacker (@thackerpd) March 7, 2023
Taibbi, who has been under a sustained and vicious stream of criticism from mainstream press and left-wing commentators for reporting on the government’s close work with Twitter in censoring individuals and entire topics on Twitter for years, said that there’s only one way left to describe the press: “spineless, corrupt, amoral fuckwits.”
No other way to say it now: my former colleagues in mainstream media are spineless, corrupt, amoral fuckwits. https://t.co/tsMjrzLZkv
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 7, 2023
Taibbi added on Tuesday that the situation is “particularly infuriating” because, while none of the Twitter Files journalists have requested or received access to private data, the communications exposed in their reporting are “full of instances of government agencies improperly asking for the same.”
This is particularly infuriating because while #TwitterFiles reporters neither asked for nor received access to private user data, the Files themselves are full of instances of government agencies improperly asking for the same. pic.twitter.com/xMLaEt3Q5Z
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 8, 2023
The press has shown little interest in revelations from the Twitter Files, and have downplayed or mocked the document releases and the journalists involved, rather than covering the documents or relationship between Twitter and the Democrats or Federal agencies.
A recent bill proposed in the Florida state senate by a sole Republican member which has little chance of passing and virtually no chance of withstanding judicial scrutiny would have bloggers who write about state politicians register with the state. That story generated a great deal of press outrage and coverage. Just for comparison.
