Elon Musk's recent release of the "Twitter Files" seemingly signaled an opportunity for mainstream media targets Kyle Rittenhouse and Nicholas Sandmann, both of whom have asked the Twitter CEO to expose internal communications surrounding their past treatment on the platform.
After Musk's released company communications showing Twitter's collusion to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop on the social media site, Kyle Rittenhouse publicly appealed to the Tesla billionaire to "consider releasing the censoring done" surrounding his trial in a viral post with over 21,000 likes on Twitter.
"Learning about the twitter files and @elonmusk releasing the truth is making me more and more curious to find out if there was hidden censoring regarding my story and case on twitter. I am hoping, one day soon, I will be able to find out and the truth will be shown to all of us," Rittenhouse wrote in a separate tweet.
KYLE RITTENHOUSE GOES VIRAL AFTER ASKING IF TWITTER FILES WILL REVEAL ‘HIDDEN CENSORING’ AGAINST HIM
Musk has teased that there will be more releases of Twitter files spotlighting the company's content moderation actions.
Rittenhouse, who claimed self-defense last year on murder charges stemming from shootings during the unrest in Wisconsin in 2020, was found not guilty on all charges in a trial where he received sharply negative coverage from mainstream media. He was called a "white supremacist" and numerous outlets repeated the falsehood that he illegally transported the rifle he used in the fatal shootings across state lines.
NICHOLAS SANDMANN ASKS MUSK TO RELEASE ‘HIDDEN’ TWITTER FILES ON DEATH THREATS PERMITTED AGAINST HIM
Former Covington High School student Nicholas Sandmann, who was similarly targeted by the media in 2019, also used the opportunity to request transparency relating to death threats made against him and his school on Twitter while he was a teen. He shared multiple screenshots of threats, including one picture of "MAGA kids" being shoved into a "woodchipper."
"As I’m watching this all play out, I’m wondering if @elonmusk has any hidden twitter files relating to what went on here," Sandmann said on Twitter Sunday. "Let’s be clear: under the watch of @Vijaya [Gadde] they allowed these illegal threats when I was 16 years old."
Sandmann was at the center of controversy after he was filmed smiling while wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat as he was being confronted by Native American activist Nathan Phillips during the March for Life in Washington, D.C. Media outlets portrayed the incident as a group of White teenagers harassing an older Native American, though full video of the incident showed Sandmann and his fellow students remained calm after they were initially confronted by Phillips.
Sandmann would eventually file defamation lawsuits against multiple media outlets for their original portrayal of the incident, several of which resulted in settlements.
Fox News' Jeffrey Clark and Michael Lee contributed to this report.
