Social media platform Twitter has reportedly temporarily suspended the account of investigative journalism group Project Veritas following its publication of internal documents from Silicon Valley company Pinterest.
According to journalist James O’Keefe, Twitter has limited the account of the investigative journalism group Project Veritas following the group’s publication of internal communications from Pinterest. O’Keefe wrote in a tweet that Project Veritas “has been temporarily suspended from posting for tweeting internal communications from @Pinterest which show them calling @benshapiro a ‘white supremacist’.” The tweet can be seen below along with a photo of a warning
A person familiar with the situation told Breitbart News that the Project Veritas account was locked for violating the Twitter Rules, specifically the private information policy , but clarified that Project Veritas was not locked out due to the content of their communications.
Still, it would seem that the most likely violation of Twitter’s privacy policy was the publication of the Pinterest communications. Twitter’s private information policy states:
You may not publish or post other people’s private information without their express authorization and permission. We also prohibit threatening to expose private information or incentivizing others to do so.
It would seem that Twitter considers the internal communications of Pinterest staff to fall under this guideline, which is otherwise aimed at preventing “doxing,” or exposing the private details of an individual. But, in that case, it appears that many journalists may be at risk of suspension for publishing newsworthy private information. Project Veritas has previously published a large amount of content about Twitter that could be viewed as private information, including undercover recordings of private conversations. Breitbart News reported on this work by Project Veritas here.
According to the internal Pinterest communications published by Project Veritas, the tech firm labeled conservative commentator Ben Shapiro as a “white supremacist.” This information comes from a private Slack channel used by Pinterest for work purposes; O’Keefe reportedly asked the Pinterest insider who provided him with the info if the policymaker’s at Pinterest discussing Shapiro had simply been expressing their opinion, but the insider stated that “this was actually in a war room where policymakers were making decisions about content.”
The whistleblower has reportedly since been fired. Read more at Project Veritas here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com