Jan. 6 panel hears testimony on Twittery

A former Twitter employee told the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack that the company gave former President Trump special treatment because of the attention be brought to the platform.

 

The employee told the panel Tuesday that the social media platform had considered implementing stricter rules after Trump had told the extremist Proud Boys group to “stand by” during a presidential debate.

 

“My concern was that the former president, for seemingly the first time, was speaking directly to extremist organizations and giving them directives. We had not seen that sort of direct communication before, and that concerned me,” the former employee said.

 

The employee also said that a Dec. 19, 2020, tweet amounted to “staking a flag in D.C. on Jan. 6 for his supporters to come and rally.”

 

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said that the employee, who was not named and had their voice modulated to conceal their identity, had worked on Twitter’s content moderation team in 2020 and 2021.