Dorsey apologized for the way Twitter blocked the story without providing details.
By David Isaac, World Israel News
Social media giants Facebook and Twitter were criticized by pro-Trump critics after censoring, or to use the modern term, “cancelling” a New York Post story alleging Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was involved in son Hunter Biden’s overseas business ventures.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey later apologized for the way his company handled the censorship, if not for the actual censorship itself, saying it was “unacceptable” that the firm blocked it without explaining the reason for doing so.
“Our communication around our actions on the @nypost article was not great. And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why we’re blocking: unacceptable,” Dorsey tweeted late Wednesday.
Those attempting to post the New York Post story received the following message: “We can’t complete this request because this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful. Visit our Help Center to learn more.”
Dorsey made the apology after coming in for criticism from Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri. Hawley didn’t find Dorsey’s explanation satisfactory, tweeting “@Twitter @jack this is not nearly good enough. In fact, it’s a joke. It’s downright insulting. I will ask you – and @Facebook– to give an explanation UNDER OATH to the Senate subcommittee I chair. These are potential violations of election law, and that’s a crime.”
Facebook’s policy communications director Andy Stone, a former Democratic staffer, tweeted, “While I will intentionally not link to the New York Post, I want be clear that this story is eligible to be fact checked by Facebook’s third-party fact checking partners. In the meantime, we are reducing its distribution on our platform.”
Tech companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google have come under fire in recent years for censoring conservative content. Giving ammunition to these claims was the fact that White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was locked out of her personal Twitter account after attempting to share the story.
McEnany’s account has more than 1 million followers. She says Twitter informs her account won’t be unlocked until she deletes the post to the Biden story.
The story in question purported to find a “smoking gun” email from 2015 that contradicted Biden senior’s claim that he knew nothing of his son’s business dealings.
The email, from Vadym Pozharskyi, described as the No. 3 at Burisma, a Ukrainian energy firm on whose board Hunter Biden served while earning $50,000 a month, thanked Hunter for arranging a meeting with then-Vice President Biden.
“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spen[d] some time together. It’s real[ly] an honor and pleasure,” the email reads.
The Trump camp said the “explosive” allegations, if proved true, would expose Mr. Biden as a liar.
“If the New York Post story is true, we know now Joe Biden lied to the American people and he lied repeatedly to you,” former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is campaigning on behalf of the president, told reporters on a conference call. “If the New York Post story is true, we know without any shadow of doubt that this was a bald-faced lie.”
AP Contributed to this report.