The FBI has been exposed for giving Ukrainian Nazis access to American Twitter users’ personal information, including that of journalists and everyday people, so they can target them for censorship.. or more.
Journalist Aaron Mate revealed the covert FBI and Ukrainian cooperation to target Americans when he released an email from FBI Special Agent Aleksandr Kobzanets to two Twitter executives, one named Marlena and Yoel Roth, who was the company’s head of trust and safety at the time, on March 27, 2022. Four of the FBI agent’s coworkers were present during the conversation.
Kobaznets attached a list of 163 American Twitter accounts to his email to the two Twitter executives. According to him, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) – Ukraine’s main intelligence agency – suspected the accounts of “spreading fear and disinformation.” Kobzanets, the assistant legal attache at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, also attached a memo from the SBU asking Twitter to remove the accounts and hand over all of the users’ private contact data.
Naturalnews.com reports: According to the Ukrainian agency, the 163 Twitter profiles have been “used to disseminate disinformation and fake news to inaccurately reflect events in Ukraine” and to “justify war crimes of the Russian authorities on the territory of the Ukrainian state in violation of international law.”
“To stop Russian aggression on the information front, we kindly ask you to take urgent measures to block these Twitter accounts and provide us with user data specified during registration,” the SBU appealed.
According to Mate, the list provided by Kobzanets extended to the members of the media – and even included his name. Twitter nevertheless agreed to review the accounts for “inauthenticity” in its reply. However, it raised concerns with the inclusion of Mate and other “American and Canadian journalists” in the list.
“If granted, the users on the list would not only have been banned from Twitter – but had their phone number, date of birth and email address disclosed to both the FBI and SBU,” the independent journalist said.”
Inside the social media company, Roth forwarded the FBI special agent’s message to two colleagues – William Nuland and Marlena Wisniak. It is unknown whether Wisniak is the same Marlena who received Kobzanets’ initial March 2022 email.
“This is the output of our meeting with the FBI,” Roth wrote. “The list of accounts is a mixed bag; there’s some state media mixed in with a bunch of other stuff. But given the context, I think a deep dive here [is] warranted.”
All three officials have left Twitter as of writing, with Roth leaving the company in November 2022. Wisniak joined the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law after her stint at Twitter. Meanwhile, Nuland joined Facebook’s Threat Intelligence Team after he departed from Twitter.
Mate pointed out that Nuland happens to be the half-brother of Victoria Nuland, undersecretary of state for political affairs at the Department of State. The official had an integral role in the U.S. backing the February 2014 revolution that removed then-Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych from power. Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a pro-Washington official, was then installed.
The independent journalist emailed Kobzanets, asking if he had vetted Kyiv’s censorship request list before sending it to Twitter. He also asked if Roth’s reply about the FBI wanting to censor journalists on Ukraine’s behalf prompted any review or revision of his assistance to Ukrainian intelligence. The special agent did not answer.
The FBI’s National Press Office also declined to answer his questions. A spokesperson for the federal law enforcement agency replied to Mate: “While we appreciate your inquiry, as a matter of practice – we do not confirm, deny, or otherwise comment on specific interactions nor confirm the veracity of correspondence.”
According to the journalist, 34 accounts from the 163 listed by the SBU were suspended and 20 no longer exist. The rest of the accounts Kyiv wanted to censor remain active, he added.
OH!! WOW!! SHOCK!!