Leaders.com
  • Business
  • Leadership
  • Wealth
  • Master Classes
  • Business
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Executives
    • Marketing and Sales
    • Social Media
    • Innovation
    • Women in Business
  • Leadership
    • Personal Growth
    • Company Culture
    • Public Speaking
    • Productivity
    • Hiring
    • Social Issues
    • Leaders
  • Wealth
    • Investing
    • Cryptocurrency
    • Retirement
    • Venture Capital
    • Loans and Borrowing
    • Taxes
    • Markets
    • Real Estate
  • Master Classes
Social Media Taibbi

Journalist Matt Taibbi criticizes both sides of the aisle (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

By Tyler Hummel Leaders Staff

Tyler Hummel

Tyler Hummel

Tyler Hummel is a news writer for Leaders Media. He was the Fall 2021 College Fix Fellow and Health Care...

Full bio


Learn about our editorial policy

Dec 20, 2022

Behind the Twitter Files—Meet Matt Taibbi

Elon Musk tapped journalist Matt Taibbi to lead other writers in the release of The Twitter Files, which revealed the questionable tactics of Twitter’s previous management. A look at the career of the investigative journalist. 

Key Details

  • Born in New Jersey, Matt Taibbi started his career as a reporter in Uzbekistan (where he was kicked out), then Mongolia, and finally to Russia in the 1990s, before returning to the U.S. in 2002.
  • The independent journalist has drawn attention to himself since December 2 when he released the first of The Twitter Files, revealing details of how the social-media giant has collaborated with politicians and the intelligence community to suppress critics and allowed internal biases to shape policy. 
  • Musk says he believes in “citizen journalism” and in keeping with the way Twitter works aims to empower more voices on the platform while using fewer rules to limit speech.
  • Taibbi’s current Substack writing, where he has 30,000 paid subscribers, has focused on the censorship and the cancel culture.
  • He wrote more than a dozen articles for Rolling Stone about financial corruption by Wall Street firms and federal regulators during and after the 2008 financial crisis, earning him a National Magazine Award.
  • His record of independent journalism and books finds him with allies and critics on all sides of the political divide.

Why it’s Important 

For the most part, the mainstream media has yet to respond to the claims from the Twitter Files. It has mainly ignored them—claiming that since they are published in tweet form, they are not independently verifiable. 

Taibbi is not a Republican, despite what his critics say. He wrote three books during the Trump administration critical of former President Donald Trump, systematic racism, and Fox News—respectively Insane Clown President, I Can’t Breathe, and Hate Inc. He drew criticism from conservatives in 2012 with his story Andrew Breitbart: Death Of a Douche. He says Bernie Sanders is one of the few politicians he admires. 

Despite coming from a media background—his father was a longtime TV journalist in New York City—he’s been a notable critic of the media. He went as far as to join a December 8 Munk Debate with journalists Douglas Murray, Malcolm Gladwell, and Michelle Goldberg to argue that the media cannot be trusted. 

“Taibbi’s works have mercilessly attacked economic and criminal injustice among other issues. His scathing 2014 book, The Divide, analyzes the increasingly large wealth disparity in the U.S. and was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post and NPR,” says The New York Post. 

He works independently from any journalistic publications and has more than 30,000 paid subscribers on Substack, making him one of the most successful journalists on the platform. His writing style has earned him comparison to late author Hunter S. Thompson and earned him the 2008 National Magazine Award for Columns and Commentary during his time at Rolling Stone. He has 1.3 million followers on Twitter.

Alternative Viewpoints 

Matt Taibbi’s targets have gradually shifted from sacred cows of the right to sacred cows of the left, which has drawn suspicion and anger from the left side of the aisle even as he claims his politics haven’t changed. His fellow Substack journalist Glenn Greenwald has praised his continued dedication to maintaining the same values as the world has changed around him and continuing to criticize both sides of the aisle.  

“Taibbi is, arguably, as ribald and fearless as ever. It’s just that his targets and topics have begun to shift. He does not write as much on Wall Street or corporate skullduggery anymore, preferring to train his sights on the campus left and the talking heads at MSNBC. Taibbi’s defenders say he hasn’t changed. Rather, it’s the world that has grown more illiberal and hysterical,” says The Intelligencer. 

Conservative readers have generally welcomed Taibbi’s reporting—praising the work he is doing with The Twitter Files and exposing policy failures and internal contradictions within the social-media giant, which had for years claimed it wasn’t suppressing conservatives. 

“The internal communications obtained by Taibbi reveal how political operatives from both Biden’s and Trump’s teams wielded influence over Twitter’s content moderation, though Biden’s team had more success in shaping Twitter’s behavior, given the ideological predispositions of its workforce,” says National Review Online. 

“He never struck me as a journalistic lion, but I happily named him in several columns for being a rare scribe willing, amid the febrile, herd-like embrace of the Steele dossier, to say the emperor had no clothes,” says Wall Street Journal’s Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.

Home / News / Behind the Twitter Files—Meet Matt Taibbi
Share
FacebookTweetEmailLinkedIn

Related Stories

Parent’s Wealth Tip The Scales In SAT Scores and College Admissions

by PJ Howland Leaders Staff
Wealth

Oct 25, 2023

Parent's wealth tips the scales for SAT numbers

New data shows a strong correlation between family income and SAT scores, indicating the exam may act as a “wealth test” that advantages higher-income students.

Key Details

  • Students from wealthier families tend to score higher on the SAT than lower-income peers due to advantages like well-funded schools, tutors, and extracurricular activities.
  • The pandemic has exacerbated SAT score disparities, with average scores dropping the most among disadvantaged groups.
  • Addressing the gap requires increased funding for lower-income school districts and expanding access to test prep resources.
  • Children from the top 1% of families are twice as likely to attend an Ivy-Plus college (Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, Duke, and Chicago) compared to middle-class families with similar SAT/ACT scores.

Go deeper

FacebookTweetEmailLinkedIn

Seattle Takes The Crown For Advanced Tech Talent

by PJ Howland Leaders Staff
Tech

Oct 24, 2023

Seattle tech talent

Seattle has emerged as the metro area with the most advanced tech talent, beating out tech hubs like San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

Key Details

  • According to a new ranking by the Burning Glass Institute, Seattle has the highest proportion of advanced tech workers compared to other cities with similarly sized tech workforces.
  • The ranking evaluated 60 million high-paying, in-demand tech job postings and histories to identify cities with cutting-edge roles like AI and cybersecurity rather than legacy tech positions.
  • With tech giants Amazon and Microsoft headquartered in Seattle, the city edged out the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Austin, and Raleigh on the list.
  • The report found that demand for software developers and IT support specialists has declined over the past five years as companies seek more specialized tech talent.

Go deeper

FacebookTweetEmailLinkedIn

More Americans Can’t Keep Up With Car Payments

by Colin Baker Leaders Staff
Loans and Borrowing

Oct 23, 2023

car loans, used cars

A record number of Americans are behind on their car loan payments as higher interest rates and prices weigh on consumers.

Key Details

  • According to data from Fitch Ratings, 6.11% of car loans were at least 60 days delinquent in September, the highest since tracking began in the early 2000s.
  • Some interest rates on used cars can rise to as much as 21%, according to Bankrate.
  • Soaring prices and rising interest rates are squeezing consumers, making it difficult for some to keep up with their auto loans.

Go deeper

FacebookTweetEmailLinkedIn
Chevron Gas Deal
Markets

Oct 23, 2023

Chevron Makes $53 Billion Deal Amid Surging Gas Prices

by PJ Howland Leaders Staff
nike logo
Company Culture

Oct 20, 2023

Nike to Require More In-Office Days From Employees

by Colin Baker Leaders Staff
blue collar workers
Retirement

Oct 20, 2023

Explaining The ‘C+ Grade’ Retirement Ecosystem in The United States

by PJ Howland Leaders Staff

Recent Articles

Hiring

Nov 1, 2023

Learn the Winning Answers to the Most Common Phone Interview Questions

Come to your next phone interview fully prepared

Personal Growth

Oct 30, 2023

85 Quotes on Self-Love to Boost Your Self-Esteem

Don’t fall into the trap of harsh self-criticism

Company Culture

Oct 27, 2023

What is a Sabbatical? Your Ticket to Restful Growth and Meaning

Sabbaticals can benefits both employees and businesses

  • Business
  • Leadership
  • Wealth
Join the Leaders Community

Get exclusive tools and resources you need to grow as a leader and scale a purpose-driven business.

Subscribing indicates your consent to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy

Leaders.com
  • Privacy Policy
  • About
  • Careers
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
  • Disclosures
  • Editorial Policy
  • Member Login

© 2025 Leaders.com - All rights reserved.

Search Leaders.com