A year ago, one of my biggest fears came true. My name, work ID picture and old Slack messages were misconstrued, posted on Twitter (now known as X), and then plastered over the headlines of right-wing outlets around the country. They were included within a series of tweets highlighting emails, messages and internal documents from my time working as a senior policy official at Twitter, called the “Twitter Files.”
The Twitter Files were advertised by the platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, as blockbuster confirmation of allegations of government collusion at the social media company to censor Republican voices during COVID-19 and the 2020 election. Before Musk purchased Twitter, I had come forward as a whistleblower to the House select committee on the Jan. 6 attack. I had also revealed my identity as a Black queer woman.
I knew that my identity and being the first person to speak on record about Twitter during the Trump era put a target on my back. But I had never imagined the publication of something like the Twitter Files. I also knew I could not escape being included, so as each installment was published, I sat attached to my phone, hitting the refresh button.
When my name and picture finally appeared, I was on my way home from a yoga class. I sat down on a park bench and opened Signal. With calm resolve yet shaky fingers, I messaged my lawyers a link to the tweet that purported to show I had lied to Congress.
Almost immediately, Twitter users began to call for me to be...
Several accounts -- run by users in Vietnam and boasting tens of thousands of followers -- later shifted to focus solely on Australian national politics, linking to websites full of AI-generated a...