In a first episode about the Twitter Files disclosures, we look at how Twitter, at the behest of intelligence agencies, catalogued people’s speech and selectively silenced some of them. And then lied about it.

The Private Citizen is back! Today, we start looking at The Twitter Files.

Please excuse the unscheduled one week hiatus after the scheduled week off. I was very sick for about a week. Since my podcast production time for the rest of the year is now rapidly running out, I plan to produce a number of episodes on the most important story of the moment – The Twitter Files – and hopefully a dedicated feedback episode, before releasing the customary end of year wrap-up and calling it quits for 2022.

How the Twitter Files Story Broke

I explain how Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss and Michael Shellenberger got their hands on “The Twitter Files” and how the story broke. I also look at the involvement of James “Jim” Baker.

→ More about the recenption of the story in the mainstream press

How Twitter’s “Visibility Filtering” Worked

We look at what tools Twitter built to filter and suppress people’s speech and how it used them.

→ My newsletter article on this section of The Twitter Files
→ Video of Taibbi and Murray vs. Gladwell and Goldberg in the Munk Debates

Producer Feedback

There’s no feedback section in this episode for organisatorial reasons. I will try to do another dedicated feedback episode before the end of the year.

If you have any thoughts on the things discussed in this or previous episodes, please join our forum and compare notes with other producers. You can also contact me in several other, more private ways.

If you are writing in from Russia, you might want to use my whistleblower contact form.

Toss a Coin to Your Podcaster

I am a freelance journalist and writer, volunteering my free time because I love digging into stories and because I love podcasting. If you want to help keep The Private Citizen on the air, consider becoming one of my Patreon supporters.

You can also support the show by sending money to via PayPal, if you prefer.

This is entirely optional. This show operates under the value-for-value model, meaning I want you to give back only what you feel this show is worth to you. If that comes down to nothing, that’s OK with me. But if you help out, it’s more likely that I’ll be able to keep doing this indefinitely.

Thanks and Credits

I’d like to credit everyone who’s helped with any aspect of this production and thus became a part of the show. I am thankful to the following people, who have supported this episode through Patreon and PayPal and thus keep this show on the air:

Sir Galteran, Rhodane the Insane, Steve Hoos, Butterbeans, Michael Small, 1i11g, Jaroslav Lichtblau, Jonathan M. Hethey, Michael Mullan-Jensen, Dave, Sandman616, Jackie Plage, ikn, Bennett Piater, Rizele, IndieGameiacs, avis, Vlad, Joe Poser, Dirk Dede, Kai Siers, David Potter, Cam, Mika, MrAmish, Robert Forster, krunkle, Captain Egghead, RJ Tracey, Rick Bragg, RikyM, astralc, Barry Williams, Jonathan, Superuser, D, Florian Pigorsch and Juhan Sonin.

Many thanks to my Twitch subscribers: Mike_TheDane, jonathane4747, mtesauro, Galteran, l_terrestris_jim, pkeymer, m0dese7en_is_unavailable, redeemerf and Stoopidenduser.

I am also thankful to Bytemark, who are providing the hosting for this episode’s audio file.

Podcast Music

The show’s theme song is Acoustic Routes by Raúl Cabezalí. It is licensed via Jamendo Music. Other music and some sound effects are licensed via Epidemic Sound. This episode’s ending song is Bebop Rhythm by Vendla.