After the New York Post published a bombshell report on Wednesday detailing then-Vice President Joe Biden’s history of corruption, Facebook and Twitter banned circulation of the story in an attempt to suppress it.
But in a bizarrely ironic twist of fate, the left-leaning social-media platforms quickly became the focus of the story themselves, elevating the outrage among conservative critics to a new level and helping fuel even greater attention to the bombshell reports.
Too late, you just put more ? on the #HunterBiden story and MADE IT AN EVEN BIGGER STORY ABOUT #BigTechCensorship YOU ARE MEDDLING IN THE ELECTION. pic.twitter.com/dCKaB7chRK
— ?️iroots.org (@irootsorg) October 14, 2020
Users that shared the story on Twitter were locked out of their accounts, and were even prevented from sharing the link to the report in direct messages.
When confronted about this blatant act of censorship, Twitter executives claimed that the New York Post report violated a 2018 policy prohibiting the sharing of “content obtained without authorization.”
Another Twitter spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that the story was removed from the social-media platform because of its “lack of authoritative reporting.”
But many pointed out that if Twitter was trying to prevent people from reading the New York Post’s report, the social media giant accomplished the exact opposite.
Meanwhile some GOP lawmakers warned of an even greater backlash, telling Twitter that its actions may have legal consequences.
Several Republicans have echoed this warning, including Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who told Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to be prepared to testify “under oath” about Twitter’s recent actions. The House Judiciary Committee also plans to subpoena Dorsey in the coming weeks.
Pleased to announce the full Judiciary Committee will vote on subpoena to @Twitter and @jack on Tuesday. That subpoena should include @Facebook
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 15, 2020
Hawley further hinted that other actions may be taken to break up the monopolistic companies.
He also retweeted a statement from Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, pledging to take action after the uproar.
This is a major announcement from FCC on #BigTech. Now Congress must act on #Section230 https://t.co/aQcbymFYsV
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 15, 2020
Because Twitter is a private company, it often receives the benefit of the doubt. But the egregious abuse of its platform to tip the political scales prompted renewed calls to revise or repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which extends First Amendment protections to many online platforms that host user-generated content.
It’s good to know you are a publisher making editorial decisions and not a platform. Let the lawsuits begin.
— jibbs (@jibbs) October 15, 2020
Facebook’s excuse wasn’t much better. A spokesperson for the company, Andy Stone, said blocking access to the New York Post story “is part of our standard process to reduce the spread of misinformation.” Now the New York Post’s report must undergo a “thorough” fact-checking before users can share it on the platform.
Several users pointed out that Facebook didn’t bother to similarly fact-check the many unverifiable claims made against President Donald Trump:
How about this one https://t.co/0a5ArgeSsK
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) October 14, 2020
Facebook didn’t bother to fact check these 100% fabricated stories or reduce their distribution on its platform. Perhaps that’s because they advanced the cold war agenda while the Biden exposé reveals the corruption of Silicon Valley’s favored candidate. pic.twitter.com/6LZ1iPgvnh
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) October 15, 2020
