Twitter Files - Staffers Had to 'Triage' Multiple FBI Requests on Tackling 'Misinformation' Accounts

©AFP 2022 / CONSTANZA HEVIA

Didn't they have anything better to do?! Latest Twitter Files show how FBI inundated social media network with so many requests to tackle obscure accounts posting 'misinformation' that staffers had to triage Bureau's emails 

The publication of Twitter Files kicked off on December 2 after a pledge by the social platform's chief executive Elon Musk to release the company's internal dialogue on the suppression of the New York Post's exclusive Hunter Biden laptop story.

The recently released sixth and seventh batches of the Twitter Files claimed that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had issued instructions to censor specific tweets and accounts for "violating" the company's terms of service.

Taibbi also revealed some emails that cite cases in which FBI executives had gone to extreme lengths to “validate theories of foreign influence” to justify the requests.

The writer accused the bureau of acting as "doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship."

"Encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency]. The operation is far bigger than the reported 80 members of the [FBI's] Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), which also facilitates requests from a wide array of smaller actors - from local cops to media to state governments," he tweeted.

Taibbi went on to argue that Twitter "had so much contact with so many agencies that executives lost track; is today the DOD [Department of Defense], and tomorrow the FBI? Is it the weekly call, or the monthly meeting? It was dizzying."

He claimed that "a chief end result was that thousands of official 'reports' flowed to Twitter from all over, through the FITF and the FBI's San Francisco field office."

When asked whether the FBI used back channel communications with Twitter employees to suppress or spike the laptop saga, the FBI officials said, "We did no request anything of the sort."

Taibbi has been releasing the Twitter Files in coordination with the platform’s new CEO Elon Musk and other journalists, including Bari Weiss and Michael Shellenberger. The disclosures have so far revealed information about suppression of reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop story and efforts to remove former US President Donald Trump from the platform following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

The remarks come after the FBI responded the Twitter Files disclosures by arguing in an interview with a US media outlet that it didn't request "any action" on specific tweets. According to the bureau, it didn't give Twitter employees "specific instructions or details regarding the Hunter Biden laptop story."

The content of the laptop, including the First Son’s naked photos and 18+ videos, is part of a federal probe into whether Hunter Biden violated US laws when he engaged in financial and business dealings in foreign countries during his father’s vice presidency between 2009 and 2017. President Joe Biden has repeatedly dismissed any knowledge of his son’s shady business activities, with most US news outlets and social media companies successfully shielding him from the laptop-related revelations ahead of the 2020 presidential election campaign.

Earlier this year, however, a number of big newspapers made a U-turn, confirming that the laptop was authentic and that the damning information contained within the device was genuine.

Independent journalist Matt Taibbi, who published the latest installment, tweeted that the FBI appear to have inundated Twitter with so many requests to grapple with obscure accounts posting "misinformation" that the platform's employees "had to improvise a system for prioritizing/triaging them."

In the latest instalment of the Twitter Files the FBI appear to have inundated the social media network with so many requests to tackle obscure accounts posting 'misinformation' that staffers had to triage the bureau's emails.

In some emails revealed by Substack writer Matt Taibbi, there are also cases in which executives have gone to extreme lengths to 'validate theories of foreign influence' to justify the requests.

The Twitter Files began on December 2 after CEO Elon Musk promised to release the company's internal dialogue regarding the suppression of the New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story.

Musk released unvetted documents to Taibbi as well as fellow journalists, Bari Weiss and Michael Shellenberger.

Taibbi posted the latest stream of emails on Christmas Eve starting with a Bureau-issued statement from Wednesday - which doesn't refute allegations but instead criticized the files release.

Photoes Files Twitter

'The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public… It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency,' the statement read.

Taibbi took a swipe at the agency noting that they must think those who helped release the files as 'unambitious' if their 'sole aim' is to discredit the FBI.

'After all, a whole range of government agencies discredit themselves in the #TwitterFiles. Why stop with one?' he said.

The Substack writer went on to say that the FBI had been acting as 'doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship.'

'Encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA,' he wrote.

'The operation is far bigger than the reported 80 members of the Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), which also facilitates requests from a wide array of smaller actors - from local cops to media to state governments.

'Twitter had so much contact with so many agencies that executives lost track. Is today the DOD, and tomorrow the FBI? Is it the weekly call, or the monthly meeting? It was dizzying.

'A chief end result was that thousands of official 'reports' flowed to Twitter from all over, through the FITF and the FBI's San Francisco field office.'

Taibbi reveals regular Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) meetings with executives, FBI personnel and at least two OGA or 'Other Government Agency' a term Taibbi said was regularly used to describe retired CIA.

'The government was in constant contact not just with Twitter but with virtually every major tech firm,' he wrote.

'The FITF meeting agendas virtually always included, at or near the beginning, an 'OGA briefing,' usually about foreign matters.

'Despite its official remit being 'Foreign Influence,' the FITF and the SF FBI office became conduit for mountains of domestic moderation requests, from state governments, even local police.'

In an email from San Francisco FBI agent Elvis Chan on Nov 5, 2020, the special agent is seen providing 'recent activities' on Twitter and putting a Minneapolis police Lieutenant in touch with the Twitter staffer.

Some 'threat' intel was also delivered by a one-way platform on which many communications were timed to vanish, known as Teleporter.

Taibbi makes note that in approaching the 2020 election, the FITF/FBI 'overwhelmed' Twitter with requests sending hundreds of problem accounts, some adorned with Excel attachments.

'Hi Stacia, FBI Baltimore identified these Twitter handles and tweets which appear to provide misleading information on time, place, or manner of voting in the upcoming elections,' an email from Chan read.

'We believe these may violate your terms of service and wanted to bring them to your attention. We would appreciate any feedback you have regarding this matter. Thanks, Regards Elvis.'

There were so many government requests, Twitter employees had to improvise a system for prioritizing and triaging them.

Twitter legal executive Stacia Cardille who is mentioned in several of the emails is seen trying to find a way to 'prioritize the reports they escalate' in an email Oct 28, 2020.

'We are having some issues with the backlog impacting our elections efforts,' she wrote.

'Although every #Tweep is valued, I believe it is likely that our reports are the most credible and most urgent – at least for the next week.'

FBI complaints in the newly released files were almost always depicted somewhere as a 'possible terms of service violation,' with the subject line tagged '(SF) (FBI).'

The New York FBI office even sent requests for the 'user IDs and handles' of a long list of accounts named in a Daily Beast article. Senior executives saying that they are 'supportive' and 'completely comfortable' doing so.

'It seemed to strike no one as strange that a 'Foreign Influence' task force was forwarding thousands of mostly domestic reports, along with the DHS, about the fringiest material,' Taibbi commented.

'Foreign meddling' had been the ostensible justification for expanded moderation since platforms like Twitter were dragged to the Hill by the Senate in 2017.'

However, executives were 'under pressure' to validate theories of foreign influence.

'After I reviewed the accounts, and found no links to Russia, I asked [redacted] on this ticket [redacted] and this was the answer: Thanks for tagging in the workflow. From my checks I could not find any indicators to suggest that the account [redacted] is Russian,' an internal Twitter email stated.

'Even the other phone linked accounts [redacted] does not have indicators to suggest it is a Russian proxy.'

The email goes on to say several other checks were made and that the company could 'find a stronger connection.'

'Going by the content and narrative coming out from the account it is definitely pro-Russian, and/or could be a Russian proxy,' the email states.

'I can brainstorm with [redacted] and see if we can dig even deeper and try to find a stronger connection.'

In a key email, news that the State Department was making a shaky public assertion of Russian influence led an executive, the same one with the 'OGA' past, to make a damning admission, Taibbi said.

'Due to a lack of technical evidence on our end, I've generally left it be, waiting for more evidence,' the executive said.

'Our window on that is closing, given that government partners are becoming more aggressive on attribution and reporting on it.

'I'm going to go ahead with suspension and marking the domain as UNSAFE.'

Translation: 'more aggressive' 'government partners' had closed Twitter's 'window' of independence' Taibbi quipped.

'Intel about the shady origin of these accounts might be true. But so might at least some of the information in them – about neo-Nazis, rights abuses in Donbas, even about our own government. Should we block such material?' he said.

'Many people wonder if Internet platforms receive direction from intelligence agencies about moderation of foreign policy news stories. It appears Twitter did, in some cases by way of the FITF/FBI.

'Often intelligence came in the form of brief reports, followed by long lists of accounts simply deemed to be pro-Maduro, pro-Cuba, pro-Russia, etc. … one batch had over 1000 accounts marked for digital execution.'

While the accounts may have shady origins, Taibbi begs the question, whether such material should be blocked from the public.

'The line between 'misinformation' and 'distorting propaganda' is thin. Are we comfortable with so many companies receiving so many reports from a 'more aggressive' government?'

3 dead in Kurdish center shooting in Paris; suspect arrested

2 of 16 A members of Kurdish community waves the Kurdish communist flags next to a barricade on fire at the crime scene where a shooting took place in Paris, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022. Skirmishes erupted in the neighbourhood a few hours after the shooting, as members of the Kurdish community shouted slogans against the Turkish government, and police fired tear gas to disperse an increasingly agitated crowd. A shooting targeting a Kurdish cultural center in Paris Friday left three people dead and three others wounded. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

A gunman killed three people and wounded three others Friday at a Kurdish community center, a hair salon and a restaurant in central Paris in an attack that French officials said appeared directed at foreign nationals.

A 69-year-old man with a criminal record was taken into custody in the attack, which ignited neighborhood protests that led to violent clashes with police. Riot police officers fired tear gas and clashed with dozens of angry protesters who lit trash cans on fire and threw projectiles at police.

One of the wounded in the shooting was seriously injured, according to the Paris prosecutor, in the attack shortly before noon on Rue d’Enghien, a narrow street in the 10th Arrondissement of the French capital

Paris pic.twitter.com/YcvtEbCv6o

— Fomocap (@fomocapdao) December 24, 2022

The gunman “clearly wanted to target foreigners,” Gérald Darmanin, the French interior minister, told reporters in Paris, though he said his “exact motivations” were unknown. He added that the gunman appeared to have acted alone.

Laure Beccuau, a Paris prosecutor, also told reporters that police were investigating a possible racist motive for the attack, which killed one woman and two men.

Protestors stand in front of riot police officers at the site where several shots were fired in the 10th Arrondissement of Paris on Friday. | AFP-JIJI

On Twitter, President Emmanuel Macron said: “The Kurds of France were targeted by an odious attack in the heart of Paris.”

French officials said the gunman had been arrested after shots were fired at a restaurant and a hair salon as well as at the Kurdish community center, and that he had been taken to the hospital after being slightly injured in the face.

Darmanin said the gunman, whom police did not name, was a French citizen who had never been flagged by French intelligence services and did not belong to any known far-right extremist groups. But he was a member of a shooting club and had “many” registered firearms, Darmanin said. The Paris prosecutor said the man, who lived in Paris, had a criminal record.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo of Paris said on Twitter that the Kurdish community had been targeted by “murders committed by a far-right militant,” but she did not provide details about the suspect.

Police in Paris investigate at the scene of a shooting on Friday that left three people dead and three others wounded. A 69-year-old suspect was wounded and arrested.
Lewis Joly/AP

“Kurds, wherever they live, should be able to live in peace and security,” Hidalgo said. “More than ever, Paris is by their side in these dark times.”

The Kurds are a large ethnic group in the Middle East who have no state of their own.

France was struck by large-scale Islamic terrorist attacks in 2015 and 2016, and, in the years that followed, by a string of smaller but deadly shootings and stabbings, often carried out by lone assailants.

Mass shootings remain rare, but there have been growing worries about far-right extremist violence. This month, far-right militants disrupted a left-wing political meeting in Bordeaux. Police also arrested dozens of far-right militants in Paris and Lyon this month over suspicions that they were planning violent attacks after a France-Morocco soccer game during the World Cup.

After the attack Friday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said that it had opened an investigation into murder, attempted murder, assault and violation of France’s firearm laws.

Beccuau said the suspect had been involved in several other criminal cases, but she provided few details about them.

He was convicted in 2017 by a court in Bobigny, a northern suburb of Paris, for illegal firearms possession, she said. The same court convicted him in June for an armed assault that occurred in 2016 and sentenced him to 12 months in prison, but he had appealed that sentence, Beccuau added.

In December 2021, the suspect was charged with racist armed assault after he attacked migrants living in tents near Bercy, a neighborhood in the 12th Arrondissement of Paris. He was arrested and placed in pretrial detention but was freed this month because he had reached the one-year limit of time he could be held without trial on those charges, Beccuau said.

The man was placed under judicial supervision and faced a number of restrictions, including having to undergo mandatory psychiatric treatment. He was also barred from possessing a weapon.

“There is no evidence at this stage to suggest that this man is affiliated with any extremist ideological movement,” Beccuau said in a statement.

One witness to Friday’s attack, who was identified only as Ali, told the BFMTV news channel that he had been walking down the street when he heard gunfire and turned around.

Bystanders gather behind the crime scene tape where a shooting took place in Paris, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022. aMultiple people have been wounded and one person arrested after a shooting in central Paris on Friday, authorities said. Police cordoned off the area in the 10th arrondissement of Paris and the Paris police department warned people to stay away from the area. It said one person was arrested, without providing details. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

“We saw people running left and right,” he said. He then entered the nearby hair salon, where three people were wounded, he told the news channel.

Police cordoned off the area where the shooting occurred — normally a bustling street with many shops and restaurants — and left clusters of journalists and bystanders standing at the edges on wet pavement. But stunned members of the local Kurdish community quickly gathered, expressing sadness and then anger.

“I don’t understand; we are helpless,” said one Kurdish man in his 40s, who said he worked in a nearby restaurant and had been living in France for the past 20 years.

“The same thing happened 10 years ago, it seems that it will never end,” said the man — who declined to give his name out of fear for his security — referring to the killing in 2013 of three Kurdish activists in the same arrondissement of Paris, including Sakine Cansiz, a Kurdish separatist who was a founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

The party has fought a decadeslong insurgency against the Turkish state. Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the PKK a terrorist organization.

Tens of millions of Kurds in the Middle East live mostly in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. After World War I, Western powers vowed to create a Kurdish state only to change their minds a few years later, leaving the Kurds as minorities in other states that have often sought to suppress their ethnic identity and language.

A range of groups have formed to fight or advocate for Kurdish rights, independence and autonomy over the decades, sometimes through violent insurgencies against their governments.

On the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, which runs perpendicular to the Rue d’Enghien, 50 or so men and a handful of women shouted angry slogans against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey — even though there was no information suggesting Turkish authorities were in any way connected to the attack.

Alexandra Cordebard, the mayor of the 10th arrondissement, said there had been no particular security measures in place at or near the Kurdish community center. “This neighborhood lives in perfect harmony, with a mix of communities living together,” she said.

The Kurdish Democratic Council of France, a group whose headquarters are at the same address as the cultural center, rejected French authorities’ hypothesis that the suspect was targeting foreign nationals in general but not Kurds specifically. The group suggested, without presenting any evidence, that Turkey was to blame.

“We are currently outraged by this situation,” said Agit Polat, a spokesperson for the Kurdish Democratic Council of France.

Darmanin said he had asked French security forces to heighten security at Kurdish community gathering places around the country, as well as at Turkish diplomatic sites.

Polisi Bakal Tindak Tegas Mobil Sipil yang Pakai Sirene dan Rotator

Dirlantas Polda Metro Jaya Kombes Sambodo Purnomo Yogo saat mengecek mobil berpelat khusus RFY yang terobos jalur Busway, Rabu (15/6/2022) di Gedung Subdit Gakkum Ditlantas Polda Metro Jaya.(KOMPAS.com/Tria Sutrisna)

Subdit Pembinaan dan Penegakan Hukum (Gakkum) Direktorat Lalu Lintas Polda Metro Jaya, bakal menindak tegas pengemudi yang menggunakan lampu isyarat (rotator) dan sirene di kendaraannya. Sanksinya berupa penilangan.

Kasubdit Bin Gakkum Ditlantas Polda Metro Jaya, AKBP Hindarsono, mengaku pihaknya sedang gencar melakukan penindakan kepada pengemudi yang menggunakan rotator dan sirine di kendaraannya.

"Kami sedang melakukan razia terkait kendaraan roda dua dan roda empat yang menggunakan rotator," ujar Hindarsono, pada hari Jumat, 13/12/2022.

Sanksi tegas berupa tilang menanti pengemudi yang tertangkap tangan memasang rotator atau sirine. Berdasarkan Undang-undang, kendaraan pribadi memang dilarang menggunakan rotator dan sirine.

Hal ini seiring dengan kejadian baru - baru ini, dimana Satuan Lalu Lintas Polres Bogor menindak ambulans dengan stiker Partai Nasdem yang melawan arus sambil membawa iring-iringan dua bus di kawasan Puncak, pada hari Jumat, 23/12/2022.

Ternyata setelah pengecekan, ambulans yang menyalakan sirene dan rotator tersebut tidak digunakan sebagaimana fungsinya, melainkan untuk kepentingan pribadi. Petugas pun melakukan penindakan berupa penertiban kendaraan.

“Operasi Lilin ini operasi kemanusiaan lebih banyak pada pelayanan masyarakat yang akan melakukan perjalanan untuk mudik dan libur, serta beribadah,” ujar Aan, pada hari Minggu, 25/12/2022.

“Jadi fokusnya pada bagaimana memperlancar arus lalu lintas, namun kita juga melakukan penegakan hukum kepada pelanggaran yang potensial mengakibatkan kecelakaan,” kata dia.

Sebelumnya, Kasat Lantas Polres Bogor AKP Dicky Anggi Pranata menjelaskan, ambulans dengan nomor polisi B 1489 UKP ditindak saat melakukan rekayasa lalu lintas di Simpang Gadog.

"Memang kita tilang, ada beberapa kekurangan terkait berkas. Setelah dilakukan pengecekan, mobil itu merupakan mobil pribadi yang diubah jadi ambulans," ucap Dicky, hari Sabtu, 24/12/2022.

Sebagai informasi, hari pertama Operasi Lilin, Jumat (23/12/2022), didominasi oleh kecelakaan lalu lintas yang mencatat 114 kejadian.

Pada hari itu terdapat 18 orang meninggal dunia, 10 orang mengalami luka berat, dan 123 orang lainnya luka ringan.

Salah satu kecelakaan yang ramai dibicarakan adalah sebuah mobil yang tercebur ke laut di Pelabuhan Merak.

Kemudian, tiga mobil yang mengalami tabrakan beruntun di Tol Layang MBZ arah Jakarta ke Cikampek.

Aturan Sirine dan Rotator

Adapun tentang penggunaan Sirine dan rotator hanya boleh digunakan kendaraan tugas polisi, mobil tahanan, pengawalan, pemadam kebakaran, PMI, mobil jenazah, dan mobil dinas lainnya. Berikut penjelasan Undang-undang No. 22 Tahun 2009 pasal 59 ayat (5) Penggunaan lampu isyarat dan sirene sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (1) dan ayat (2)::

1. Lampu biru dan sirene digunakan untuk mobil petugas Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia.



2. Lampu merah dan sirene digunakan untuk mobil tahanan, pengawalan Tentara Nasional Indonesia, pemadam kebakaran, ambulans, palang merah, dan jenazah.



3. Lampu kuning tanpa sirene digunakan untuk mobil patroli jalan tol, pengawasan sarana dan Prasarana Lalu Lintas dan Angkutan Jalan, perawatan dan pembersihan fasilitas umum, menderek kendaraan, dan angkutan barang khusus.

Warga yang melanggar pemakaian sirene dan lampu rotator dikenakan ketentuan pidana sesuai dengan Pasal 287 Ayat (4) UU No. 22 Tahun 2009. Setiap orang yang mengemudikan kendaraan bermotor di jalan yang melanggar ketentuan mengenai penggunaan atau hak utama bagi kendaraan yang menggunakan alat peringatan dengan bunyi dan sinar sebagaimana dimaksud dalam Pasal 59, Pasal 106 ayat (4) huruf f, atau Pasal 134, dipidana dengan pidana kurungan paling lama 1 (satu) bulan atau denda paling banyak Rp 250.000.

James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ Sequel Grosses to $661 Million Globally Through Second Thursday

20th Century Studios/Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water splashed out with another $37.1M at the international box office on Thursday, leading to a running cume of $464M overseas. With domestic’s $14.5M Thursday gross, the global total is an estimated $661.4M. This portends a sophomore session that should bring James Cameron’s sequel to $800M+ worldwide through Sunday. One codicil here is the arctic weather that is affecting large swaths of the U.S.

Overseas, comps for opening Thursday last week versus this week are very strong, notably as World Cup play has finished. France is up 70%, and Germany 35%. Italy, which has been struggling overall, is down just 17% and Brazil is off by 22%.

With strong and consistent mid-weeks, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has crested the $600M mark worldwide. This comes after it rapidly passed $500M global earlier this week, following its $441.6M opening weekend. The current worldwide total through Wednesday is $609.7M including $426.8M from the international box office.

The offshore cume lifts Way of Water to the No. 5 spot for a Hollywood title on the 2022 overseas chart, having now surpassed Thor: Love and Thunder and The Batman.

On Tuesday, the 20th Century Studios/Disney sequel added $40.5M from overseas markets, and on Wednesday, a further $39.5M.

Domestically, as Anthony has reported, Way of Water scored the 2nd biggest Wednesday of 2022.

International midweeks are landing at an average 15% of the opening weekend (removing troubled China from the equation, that rises to 17%). Looking at markets that bowed early last week, France’s Wednesday was up 64% this week (last Wednesday had a World Cup semi-final), Germany was also up, while Korea and Italy were down about 30%.

©AP Photo / Jordan Strauss

As we’re heading into a holiday weekend that sees Christmas Eve fall on a Saturday, and Christmas Day on a Sunday, we’ll see a significantly lighter second frame — but from December 26-30, midweeks are again expected to be robust.

In all, the Top 10 overseas markets through Wednesday are China ($70.5M), France ($37M), Korea ($32.1M), India ($26.5M), Germany ($26.1M), UK ($21.6M), Mexico ($19.4M), Australia ($15.8M), Italy ($13.8M) and Brazil ($12.9M).

Not included in the totals above are Thursday’s figures out of China and Korea. In the former, an added estimated $3.8M brings the total through today to $74.5M. In the latter, a $2.17M estimated Thursday lifts Way of Water to $34.7M.

avatar: the way of water (2022) pic.twitter.com/S4q9QqXZZ7

— . (@dotinglyricism) December 16, 2022

Cameron’s sequel to the 2009 sci-fi blockbuster “Avatar” didn’t appear to be affected by the disastrous winter storm that threw about 70% of the United States under severe weather warnings. The sequel, which took 13 years to make, will have to bring in about $2 billion just to break even, Cameron hinted.

On Thursday Canadian filmmaker James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way Of Water” shot up to a total of $661 million as of Thursday when it pulled in another $37.1 million at the international box office. With Americans unable to get to the theater due to a disastrous storm that has left 17 people dead, the film only brought in a domestic gross of $14.5 million as of Thursday.

But international earnings for the film have skyrocketed with a running cume of $464 million overseas. Though the arctic storm continues to hamper Americans, the movie could reach a gross earning of more than $800 million globally by Sunday, as the FIFA World Cup has come to an end, "Way of Water" could be an alternative source of entertainment.

Those high numbers are good news, because the “Avatar” sequel, which opened in theaters on December 16, will have to bring in as much money as possible just to break even, the director hinted. Cameron hasn’t revealed his budget for the film, but when asked about the budget simply said: “Very f****** expensive”. Some analysts have guessed it cost anywhere from $250 million to $460 million just to make.

The making of #AvatarTheWayOfWater pic.twitter.com/89LdfZOQFz

— Avatar Sequels (@avatarsequelsbr) December 24, 2022

Cameron had reportedly told Disney and 20th Century Studios executives that the film’s budget would put movie makers in the “worst business case in movie history”, and said the film would have to be “the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That’s your threshold. That’s your break even.”

But Cameron is not a novice when it comes to making one of the highest-grossing films worldwide. His first “Avatar” movie brought in more than $2.9 billion and ranks as the first highest-grossing film of all time. Meanwhile his 1997 film “Titanic” ranks third on that list with more than $2.2 billion. So for movie execs to choose to bankroll on Cameron doesn’t seem like such a big gamble, after all.

For now "Way of Water" sits at spot number five on the overseas chart for this year, passing "Thor: Love of Thunder" and "The Batman". While viewings could fall this weekend as people celebrate the holidays, ticket sales following Christmas are projected to rise significantly.

Avatar 2’ Bombs in China

With $661 million worldwide as of Thursday, and a possible end-of-weekend cume over/under $900 million global, Walt Disney and 20th Century Studios’ “Avatar: The Way of Water” is on its way to potentially becoming the year’s biggest global grosser. However, with just $80 million from China in eight days from a $57 million opening weekend (including a 78% drop on its second Friday), according to individuals with knowledge, James Cameron’s underwater 3-D epic is the latest big Hollywood movie to stumble in China. It’s also the latest Hollywood tentpole, think “Top Gun: Maverick” ($1.49 billion sans China) or “The Batman” (just $20 million out of $770 million from China), to earn top-tier global box office with almost no help from the Middle Kingdom.

There was an implicit hope that China might help make “Avatar 2” a hit there to continue the narrative that Hollywood could find fortune and glory in China. COVID-specific variables (which also included the lack of red carpet premieres and in-person promotion) may have been specific enough for “The Way of Water” to be considered an anomaly even as the movie ends up nowhere near the likes of “Avengers: Endgame” ($620 million in 2019), “The Fate of the Furious” ($390 million in 2017) or “Transformers: Age of Extinction” ($300 million in 2014).

“We may never know how the second Pandora-set picture would have performed in China had it opened in non-COVID circumstances,” stated attorney Stephen Saltzman. The head of the international entertainment group at the law firm Fieldfisher noted that the film’s opening weekend came soon after a lifting of COVID-specific restrictions and a rise in infections.

Whatever the reasons for the softer-than-hoped performance, the result merely continues a trend. After these last few years, Hollywood is, as previously reported by TheWrap, once again treating Chinese box office as a mere luxury.

Asian Studies Professor Deepak Sarma of Case Western Reserve University noted that “the financial allure of China is waning and Hollywood is a few steps behind.” He noted that tech companies are “moving out of China to Vietnam to diversify their manufacturing capabilities.”

As previously detailed, Hollywood’s share of Chinese box office has gone from a peak of $3.3 billion in 2017 to a likely finish of over/under $500 million in 2022, with the number of non-Chinese movies allowed there plummeting from a high of 73 in 2018 to under 30 this year. Fewer movies are getting in and those that do are (save for rare exceptions like “Godzilla vs. Kong,” which earned $188 million in 2021) earning less compared to pre-COVID times.

Meanwhile, Hollywood biggies like “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” ($965 million sans China) or “Minions: The Rise of Gru” ($37 million in China out of $935 million worldwide) are earning business-as-usual grosses everywhere else while Chinese tentpoles like “The Eight Hundred” ($460 million in 2020) or “Hi, Mom” ($835 million in 2021) pull in pre-COVID-level business in China.

Saltzman reminded TheWrap that “the notion of China saving failed Hollywood tentpoles was mostly a myth.” Indeed, even during the 2010s, films like “xXx: Return of Xander Cage” earning $164 million in China out of $385 million worldwide or “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” grossing $159 million in China and $312 million worldwide are an exception to the rule. Most of the big Hollywood movies that broke out in China were the same MCU movies, “Jurassic” sequels and “Fast Saga” flicks that broke out worldwide.

Former DMG president Chris Fenton explained to TheWrap that “anything that comes from Hollywood is now, more so than any time within the last decade, explicitly seen by Beijing as propaganda from the West.” The author of “Feeding the Dragon: Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood, the NBA, & American Business further noted that even in-your-face “soft power” American propaganda like Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun” sequel and seemingly harmless rom-coms like “Crazy Rich Asians” (which show people living in comparative wealth and freedom and behaving as they couldn’t in China) are often looked at with stronger governmental or cultural disapproval.

“Case in point,” argued Fenton, “the Canadian-born James Cameron — who has done everything right over the past two decades to endear himself to China — and his latest “Avatar” sequel currently represents too much of America in the eyes of Beijing.”

“You play by the rules, look at the riches you’ll have,” noted Fenton, implicitly describing the tacit agreement between the two moviemaking superpowers in the previous decade. He also asserted that “Beijing feels they simply do not need Hollywood anymore, since they now have a thriving tentpole industry and keep all the revenue from the homegrown films.”

As such, even an overall decline in theatrical revenue (the first half of 2022 in China was down, in terms of overall theatrical earnings, 38% compared to 2021) may be considered an acceptable price to pay by the Chinese government for maintaining cultural supremacy and prioritizing their own tentpoles.

Part of the implied quid-pro-quo was in China using Hollywood interest to learn the tools of the filmmaking trade. China has been releasing its own culturally specific, big-budget, high-production value and crowdpleasers for nearly a decade. The success of “Wolf Warrior II” ($854 million in 2017) arguably signaled that China could do it for themselves, which is also the implicit subtext of Wu Jing’s “Chinese government operative saves Africa from genocidal arms dealers without America’s help” slam-bang action spectacular.

While some of these films were globally mainstream enough to act as potential cultural ambassadors, a change in priorities (and worsening tensions between America and China amid the Donald Trump presidency), caused China to begin emphasizing in-country patriotism over global proselytizing.

“Using cinema to project a culturally-specific image beyond its borders is not the same priority as it was before,” argued Saltzman. This could mean fewer conventionally/globally mainstream Chinese tentpoles like Jackie Chan’s “Kung Fu Yoga” or Yi-Mou Zhang’s “The Great Wall” — starring Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal — and more stereotypically nationalistic (but generally not jingoistic) quasi-propaganda war epics like the two-part, shot-in-IMAX “Battle of Lake Changjin” which earned $910 million in 2021 and $610 million in 2022.

The new normal going forward could be one of mutually-assured indifference. However, the (thus far) global box office success of “Avatar: The Way of Water” with a presumed under-$100 million total from China again shows that, especially when COVID conditions improve, China’s theatrical industry may need Hollywood blockbusters more than Tinseltown needs Chinese box office. That, just focusing on the theatrical moviegoing business, could result in neither industry unduly influencing the other.

“I want [Hollywood] to be a success, to be a bastion of freedom of speech and American/Western values, and it will again,” declared Fenton. He often expresses mixed feelings on his key role in bringing Hollywood, including the MCU, to China, having helped “Iron Man 3” become a trendsetter in the summer of 2013. “It’s important for our movies to resonate in China, but not at the expense of our own cultural values.”

Kherson Region governor slams Ukraine’s shelling of Kherson as false flag to blame Russia

©Sergey Guneev/POOL/TASS

The shelling of Kherson by Ukrainian troops, which resulted in civilian deaths, is Ukraine’s false flag operation, Vladimir Saldo, the acting governor of the Kherson Region, wrote on his Telegram channel on Saturday.

"Today, militants of Ukrainian armed formations have conducted terrorist shelling of Kherson, which caused civilian deaths. It is a disgusting provocation pursuing an evident goal of pinning the blame on the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation," he said.

According to Saldo, the nature of destruction vividly shows that the shelling had been conducted by mobile mortar units from the city’s north and northwest.

"It is a vile, despicable trick that Ukrainian militants often resort to, as having fired a few shots, they cowardly get away from the scene of shelling, often in a civilian vehicle to cover up their crimes," he said.

The acting governor said that not only do Ukrainian service members "execute [the residents of Kherson] and throw them into prison cells", but they also make them "undergo humiliating filtration procedures, forcibly call them up for active duty and sent them to slaughter" in Donbass, and now they started eliminating them with mortar fire.

"Ukraine’s political leadership is responsible for another bloody atrocity, as they give orders to open fire against residential neighborhoods," he stressed.

Earlier on Saturday, the Strana publication reported explosions in the city of Kherson. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba claimed that the city was bombarded by Russia.

On November 9, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu ordered Commander of the Integrated Group of Forces in Ukraine Army General Sergey Surovikin to relocate the troops from the right bank of the Dnieper River, where the city of Kherson is located, to the left bank. The decision was made following Surovikin’s report to the defense chief on the operational situation in that area.

The commander said that Russian troops were successfully repelling Ukrainian army attacks while the decision on the troop relocation was also prompted by the risk of the battlegroup’s isolation over the potential flooding of territories below the Kakhovka hydropower plant.