==The Twitter Files==
{{See also|FISA abuse|FBI scandal}}
In the [[Twitter files]] journalist [[Matt Taibbi ]] outlined how various organizations could reach out to [[Twitter]] and request content removal. Taibbi concluding, “what most people think of as the “deep state” is really a tangled collaboration of state agencies, private contractors, and (sometimes state-funded) [[NGO]]s. The lines become so blurred as to be meaningless."<ref>[Latest Twitter Files Bombshell: The Deep State Is Really a Tangled Collaboration of State Agencies, Private Contractors, and NGOs], JD Rucker, December 16, 2022.</ref>
The FBI’s social media-focused task force, known as FTIF, created in the wake of the 2016 election, swelled to 80 agents and corresponded with Twitter to identify alleged foreign influence and election tampering of all kinds. Federal intelligence and [[law enforcement]] reach into Twitter included the [[Department of Homeland Security]], which partnered with security contractors and [[think tank]]s to pressure Twitter to moderate content. Social media platforms were enlisted as DHS partners under the auspices of ‘[[national security]]’, and suddenly there was a full-fledged surveillance state underway. That system is defended under the shield of ‘national security‘ as noted in the judicial ruling in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (the Trump [[Mar-a-Lago raid]] case).<ref>[https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/12/16/release-6-dhs-and-fbi-content-removal-requests-to-twitter/ Release #6 – DHS and FBI Content Removal Requests to Twitter], December 16, 2022 | Sundance.</ref>