Journalist Matt Taibbi published several posts on Twitter with screenshots of correspondence, from which it follows that the administration of the social network complied with the requirements of American politicians – both Democrats and Republicans – to remove publications that were unfavorable to them. It is noted that the Democrats had more leverage on the social network, since the share of their assets is much larger than the share of the Republicans. According to the journalist, the removal of posts on the requirements of both parties by 2020 "has become commonplace." Before publication, the announcement of Matt Taibbi's drain was commented on by Elon Musk with the message "Here we go !!" (“Let's get started!”), this may indicate that it was he who gave the journalist the necessary information, in particular, the correspondence of politicians with the administration of the social network. Musk also announced a "second series" of data releases.
According to Taibbi, Twitter took "extraordinary action" to remove information about the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop. Links to it were marked as unsafe, their transmission was blocked even through private messages. Typically, the social network does this with materials to prevent the spread of child pornography. According to the journalist, the decision to block such articles describing the scandal was made "at the very top", but the former CEO and creator of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, did not know about this, Taibbi writes, the former head of the legal, political and trust department played a key role in the cover-up. on Twitter by Vijay Gadde.
The account of White House Press Secretary (Under Donald Trump) Kayleigh McEnany was suspended for a tweet about the laptop story, to which Trump campaign staffer Mike Khan reacted emotionally, writing a letter to the administration of the social network demanding an immediate explanation of this block.
The executive director for public policy, Caroline Strom, also demanded a response from the administration. She was told that the laptop story had been removed for violating the company's "hacked content" policy. However, in another letter, a screenshot of which Taibbi publishes, Vijaya Gadde discusses with employees options for excuses for blocking claims, noting that “violating the policy on hacked materials” is not ideal, but the only way to respond to criticism.
Scandal with materials on the laptop of the son of Joe Biden
The Hunter Biden laptop scandal erupted as a result of the publication of a New York Post article about Biden Jr.'s laptop found in a repair shop with letters that indicate his foreign contacts, including Ukraine and China. The article was published a few weeks before the 2020 presidential election. The letters talked about how Hunter introduced the Ukrainian energy tycoon Pozharsky to his father and arranged a meeting. As a result, Joe Biden was accused of corruption due to lobbying for his son's business in Ukraine, and there were also accusations that Hunter Biden was "selling access" to a high-ranking father.
In October 2020, it was reported that Facebook and Twitter had decided to restrict access to an article in the New York Post about former US Vice President Joe Biden's contacts with the Ukrainian company Burisma. The material reported that Biden, while still Vice President of the United States, thanks to his son Hunter, held a meeting with a high-ranking employee of the Ukrainian company Burisma Vadim Pozharsky. It is noted that this meeting took place less than a year before Biden "pressed on the Ukrainian authorities" to force the resignation of Ukraine's Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.
The blocking of access to the network was announced in their accounts by representatives of Facebook and Twitter. Andy Stone, public relations manager for Facebook, said the social network will cut the coverage of the publication due to the need for thorough fact-checking. At the same time, Stone emphasized that such a decision is part of a standard process to reduce the spread of disinformation. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg also said that the social network restricted access to an article about Joe Biden's son during the 2020 election due to FBI warnings about possible misinformation.
In turn, the head of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, declared a violation of the policy of the social network, since an article in the New York Post, according to the company, contains materials obtained by hacking. Dorsey clarified that it is also about the publication of phone numbers and personal emails. When trying to navigate from Twitter to a page with material, the company warns users that "the link may not be safe."