Conservative commentator Matt Walsh was reportedly the victim of a data hack that compromised multiple accounts — including two decades worth of personal emails.
Wired senior reporter Dell Cameron was clearly intrigued by the opportunity to capitalize on the stolen information, as evidenced by screenshots of his solicitation of such material.
Dell Cameron, a leftist senior reporter for WIRED, used Twitter to solicit stolen information belonging to @MattWalshBlog, who was hacked last night. pic.twitter.com/wsaOWRmPnc
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) April 19, 2023
After apparently contacting the hacker directly, Cameron wrote an article that contained a summary of some of the pilfered data.
The writer’s messages requesting hacked material and subsequent posts sharing screenshots of what he received was enough to warrant Cameron a permanent suspension on Twitter.
He later shared a post on the rival social media site Mastodon that included the notification he received from Twitter.
“We don’t permit the use of our services to directly distribute content obtained through hacking that contains private information, may put people in physical harm or danger, or contains trade secrets,” the notice advised.
Wired’s managing editor took exception to Twitter’s decision, insisting that Dell did not violate Twitter’s policy and the resulting article did not contain hacked information.
“We have not received any further explanation from Twitter and our attempts to reach Twitter’s press office were met with the customary poop emoji,” Hemal Jhaveri added. “We ask that the account be reinstated, and that Twitter provide an explanation.”
Walsh also weighed in on the matter, calling the Wired statement a “flat-out lie,” adding: “Your reporter directly solicited stolen material from my phone. A Twitter suspension is going to be the least of his problems, and yours.”
While a number of other leftist reporters claimed that Cameron’s suspension was unwarranted and attempted to connect this story to that of material recovered from Hunter Biden’s laptop, independent journalist Andy Ngo provided a pivotal distinction.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk publicly criticized the platform’s previous executives for throttling reports about the laptop, but Ngo argued that allegations of hypocrisy were unfounded.
“Hunter Biden abandoned his property at a computer repair shop & the digital content was later presented to the New York Post,” added Ngô. “The then-NYP reporters … did not use Twitter to ask for someone to send them stolen material.”
