The three broadcast networks turned a blind eye to the stunning revelations from the latest installment of the "Twitter Files" but had enough time to cover Twitter owner Elon Musk's spat with journalists.
Substack writer Matt Taibbi went viral on Friday with part six of the ongoing reporting shedding light on Twitter's controversial actions before Musk took over as its owner. This one involved the FBI systemically flagging Twitter users for tweets that include "possible violative content."
"Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive, as if it were a subsidiary," Taibbi began the thread on Friday. "Between January 2020 and November 2022, there were over 150 emails between the FBI and former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth… a surprisingly high number are requests by the FBI for Twitter to take action on election misinformation, even involving joke tweets from low-follower accounts."
In response to the "Twitter Files," a spokesperson for the FBI told Fox News Digital, "The FBI regularly engages with private sector entities to provide information specific to identified foreign malign influence actors’ subversive, undeclared, covert, or criminal activities. Private sector entities independently make decisions about what, if any, action they take on their platforms and for their customers after the FBI has notified them."
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The FBI's routine contact with Twitter regarding users that would ultimately face punishment for their tweets is raising major flags about potential First Amendment violations.
Taibbi's latest "Twitter Files" dump occurred hours before the evening newscasts. "Special Report with Bret Baier" led its program with the Twitter-FBI revelations.
Meanwhile, ABC's "World News Tonight," "CBS Evening News" and "NBC Nightly News" skipped the "Twitter Files" altogether, according to Grabien transcripts.
The three networks did, however, focus on Twitter's suspension of several journalists and pundits, who Elon Musk says violated the platform's "doxxing" policy.
What was dubbed as the "Thursday Night Massacre," prominent legacy media journalists including CNN correspondent Donie O'Sullivan, New York Times technology reporter Ryan Mac and Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell were told without warning that they were "permanently suspended."
Others who were affected include The Intercept journalist Micah Lee, Voice of America correspondent Steve Herman, Mashable writer Matt Binder, former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann and former Vox journalist Aaron Rupar.
The controversy started with the suspension of @ElonJet, an account that exclusively tracked Musk's private jet usage. Musk claimed the account was suspended due to a "physical safety violation" since it was "doxxing real-time location info," sharing video of a "crazy stalker" that was harassing his child in Los Angeles thinking the Twitter owner was present. Musk threatened to take legal action against the account's user.
On Wednesday, Musk warned Twitter users, "Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info."
The users who were kicked off of Twitter on Thursday had either reported on @ElonJet's suspension or had posted links to the private jet tracking on their own Twitter accounts.
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Critics blasted Musk's actions, many slamming the premise of his "doxxing" claims since his private jet usage is public information while others accused him of hypocrisy since the billionaire has called himself a "free speech absolutist" during his acquisition of Twitter.
Some defended Musk, saying the journalists had violated the rules. Others relished in the suspensions, saying that those who were punished champion censorship and were silent when Twitter took action against others pre-Musk like the New York Post during the 2020 presidential election for its reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop story.
Musk initially clarified that their suspension was only seven days but then conducted a 30-minute poll asking his roughly 122 million Twitter followers whether their accounts should be reinstated "now," "tomorrow," "in 7 days" or "longer." "Now" led the vote with 43%.
He then decided that poll had "too many options" and conducted another poll, this time for 24 hours, letting Twitter users decide between "now" and "in 7 days."
While the poll closes late Friday night, "Now" maintains a solid lead over "7 days" with a 59-41% spread.
The legacy media has largely avoided covering the "Twitter Files" since they began dropping earlier this month with some claiming nothing new has been revealed or characterizing independent journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss as "conservatives" and accusing them of doing "PR" for Musk.
