Maine senator gave Twitter a list of accounts to ban, suppress: Twitter Files

Journalist Matt Taibbi, author of many editions of the Twitter Files since Elon Musk took over the platform in October, on Saturday shared a screenshot showing an internal email from former Twitter public policy manager Kevin Kane to former Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth. Kane wrote, "I spoke with the Campaign Director for Sen Angus King this morning, who provided a very large list (attached) of 354 suspicious Twitter accounts they have identified."

In further tweets, Taibbi shared a spreadsheet from the King campaign team, which included the over 300 "suspicious" Twitter accounts as well as over 100 Facebook profiles and pages that were reported to that platform as well. Among the reasons for reporting certain accounts as "bots" or "trolls" were listed as "Rand Paul visit excitement," "averages 20 tweets a day," being followed by or showing support for King's political opponents, and Taibbi's "favorite" reason: "mentioning immigration."

The campaign team of King, a political independent who has been a US Senator since 2013 as well as the governor of Maine from 1995 to 2003, reported dozens of accounts that seemed to be pro-Eric Brakey or Zak Ringelstein, the Republican and Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections.

On Facebook, King's team reported an account for sharing a post with the "#WalkAway" hashtag, which they labeled as "divisive content." Accounts with less than 150 friends, or "only like far-right sources," have an "odd assortment of photos," use "stickers," or were "out of state" were all flagged. One profile who had "works at the Krusty Krab" in their bio was also reported — for making a common reference to the cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants."

On Twitter, some note-worthy accounts that were reported include conservative political strategist Caleb Hull, Turning Point USA college strategic director Richard Armande Mills, podcast host Matt Christman, and Stephanie Cole, the wife of former Libertarian Party presidential candidate Austin Petersen. Zero Hedge, the right-libertarian-leaning website, and left-wing watchdog organization Media Matters were also flagged by King's team.

Several accounts on both platforms were reported for following, liking, or retweeting posts from Brakey and Ringelstein. Brakey, who serves as a state senator in Maine, compiled a list of his supporters who were reported by King, showing that some had actually been permanently suspended.

More Twitter users pointed out how absurd some of the reasons for accounts being deemed "suspicious" were, including one page being labeled as "real? but weird."

"If Dick Nixon sniffed glue, this is what his enemies list might have looked like," Taibbi said of the ridiculous list.

According to Taibbi, King's office refused a request for comment.