Transparency was the most important point for Elon Musk. In my opinion, I believe this is what led him to make the move of releasing a number of files, known as ‘The Twitter Files,’ to reporters and authors. This includes reporters and authors Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss, Lee Fang, Michael Shellenberger, David Zweig, and Alex Berenson. This group then scatteringly published the Twitter files from December 2022 to March 2023.
The 19 files released brought up many controversial topics about the management of twitter, and how many government groups and officials impacted decisions made by the company in the past.
The Files:
File 1 explained details about how Twitter moderated content related to the Hunter Biden laptop controversy.
File 2 revealed that Twitter had been promoting tweets they found important or interesting while decreasing exposure to the ones they didn’t.
Files 3-5 discussed how Twitter responded to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capital, and Donald Trump's suspension from Twitter that followed.
Files 6-7 detailed how the FBI was in communication with Twitter.
Files 8-9 explained that Twitter was ‘whitelisting,’ which meant they were preventing select accounts from being flagged. These files also looked into the U.S. Government's deep relationship with Twitter.
Files 10-14 revealed that the U.S. Government's relationship with Twitter involved content moderation on things related to COVID-19, Russia relations, the FDA, and more.
File 15 released information about tracking Russia's disinformation. It also revealed that one of Twitter’s past executives voiced concerns about the "Hamilton 68" tracking system.
File 16 exposed multiple times that the White House requested for tweets to be removed. For one example, tweets criticizing Donald Trump were asked to be removed.
Files 17-18 explained Twitter's concerns that the Global Engagement Center was encouraging censorship.
File 19 speculated about Stanford University's working with nonprofit organizations to advocate for censoring social media posts about COVID vaccines, science, and policies that contradicted public health officials' stances.
The release of the files had mixed reactions. Donald Trump, who was criticized in the files multiple times, obviously spoke out against them. He stated that any files, especially ones that mentioned the U.S. Government, should be terminated. The former Twitter CEO, spoke out and said that he still stood behind the information revealed in the files. He emphasized that Twitter had always acted in the way they thought was best at the moment. The FBI also released a statement that touched on the fact that communications between the government and companies like Twitter were very normal. 
The public response was mixed, with some being happy with the transparency, and some being upset by feeling like opposing opinions were not accepted.
Personally, I feel like files left an impact on me. I had never heard of them, nor was I aware of the information that may have happened that is spoken of in them. It shocked me how much the government is involved in platforms that I think my generation and I see as fun platforms and communication apps. It was interesting to read how the government potentially influenced censorship on Twitter and also tried to change public opinion by deciding what they did and didn’t want on Twitter.
I think on the positive side of things, that the files being released started conversation about the U.S. Constitution, free speech, and how important and influential social media is to our society. The files shined a light on the how technology and the government may be more connected then we really think.
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