Twitter files show that the FBI now consider free speech a crime
Exhibit A: An FBI National Election Command Post “Request for Coordination with Twitter,” dated November 6, 2022, complained “tweets by certain accounts that may warrant additional action due to the accounts being used to spread misinformation about the upcoming election.”
This is a primary source internal document that Musk provided to journalist Matt Taibbi. In it, the Command Post seeks action against American citizens not for being part of a foreign intelligence operation, or even for maliciously spreading chaos but for exercising constitutionally protected speech.
In the email, the FBI sought to issue “preservation letters” against 25 Twitter accounts. Preservation letters are issued to save information before any evidence of guilt is collected. The purpose is to ensure that the information is not deleted before the government can present a search warrant, which the FBI cannot do until it has probable cause.
By the FBI’s own standards, none of its targets was committing any crime. At worst, they were suspected of spreading “misinformation.” The bureau properly defines misinformation as “false or misleading information spread mistakenly or unintentionally.”
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