Project Veritas Twitter Video: Company Responds To Allegations It Can Share Trump's Deleted, Direct Messages

Project Veritas, the controversial investigative publication founded by James O'Keefe and best known for posting edited undercover video footage that is sometimes doctored, has published a new video claiming to show Twitter employees sharing personal opinions on President Donald Trump, disclosing the company’s access to user information on the platform and expressing a willingness to participate in a Department of Justice investigation into the President.

The primary focus of the video is Twitter Senior Network Security Engineer Clay Haynes, who appears to be recorded via hidden camera while sharing drinks with members of Project Veritas. O’Keefe claims the outlet had a number of meetings with Haynes.

In one of the meetings, Haynes says Twitter is “more than happy to help the Department of Justice in their little investigation” by providing them with “every single tweet that [Trump] has posted, even the ones he’s deleted. Any direct messages, any mentions.”

A spokesperson for Twitter told International Business Times, “The individual depicted in this video was speaking in a personal capacity and does not represent or speak for Twitter. Twitter only responds to valid legal requests, and does not share any user information with law enforcement without such a request.”

“We deplore the deceptive and underhanded tactics by which this footage was obtained and selectively edited to fit a pre-determined narrative,” Twitter’s spokesperson said. “Twitter is committed to enforcing our rules without bias and empowering every voice on our platform, in accordance with the Twitter Rules.”

Later, in another meeting with Haynes where O’Keefe himself attends (he applies a wig that looks slightly different than his normal hair and dons glasses to disguise himself), Haynes again says Twitter has the ability to disclose “every single message, every single tweet, whatever you log into, what profile pictures you upload.”

Those types of statements are intended to elicit shock, but shouldn’t. Twitter’s policies make clear that it has access to basically every piece of user content posted and shared on the platform.

In Twitter’s privacy policy , it states, “When you privately communicate with others through our Services, such as by sending and receiving Direct Messages, we will store and process your communications, and information related to them.”

While the policy says Twitter will not read the content of those messages for the purposes of advertising, it doesn’t provide any other exceptions.

Twitter has essentially always had access to the content of direct messages. For years, Twitter has intercepted direct messages containing links to modify the link itself by using a URL shortener—a process that once got Twitter sued . Beyond that, the company has always maintained the ability to access to DMs when necessary.

Twitter’s terms and conditions explain the company reserves the right to "access, read, preserve and disclose any information" in a number of scenarios including satisfying legal and government requests. That includes providing direct messages to law enforcement to comply with an investigation, as Twitter’s Haynes suggests in the video.

Haynes also makes clear—despite O’Keefe’s best efforts to muddy the water—that Twitter doesn’t simply access that content without reason.

In the video, O’Keefe suggests Haynes look through Donald Trump, Jr. and President Trump’s direct messages to “see what’s in there,” to which Haynes shakes his head and says, “There’s a reason why we have a subpoena process”—meaning Twitter would only access that information if requested by law enforcement as part of an investigation after obtaining a subpoena.

O’Keefe also asks Haynes if Twitter is working with the Department of Justice on any investigation, to which the Twitter employee replies, “I can’t comment and even if I knew, I wouldn’t comment.”

O’Keefe also claims the footage shows political bias within Twitter, as Haynes expresses his personal opinions about President Trump. At one point, Haynes says of Trump, “I don’t like him and he’s a terrible human being.”

However at another point in the video, after being asked by a Project Veritas employee what Twitter is doing to stop the President, Haynes essentially says the company won’t take any action to prevent Trump from tweeting.

“It was not my decision, the decision was that most of the stuff he tweets is completely newsworthy. And so because it’s newsworthy, even though he’s making a complete ass of himself and the country, we have to let those tweets up,” Haynes says.

While it may be housed in Haynes’ personal opinions, his conclusion isn’t different than Twitter’s official and public stance on Trump’s tweets. Last week, the company published guidelines explaining why it won’t take down tweets that may seem incendiary or potentially dangerous, such as Trump’s tweet about his nuclear button.

“Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets, would hide important information people should be able to see and debate,” the company said . “It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.”

O’Keefe and Project Veritas—last seen being caught off guard after the Washington Post outed one of their reporters trying to pose as a victim sexual assault at the hands of failed Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore—claim to have more footage from Twitter, stating the video of Haynes is, “just part one.”