Sensible or censorship? Social media moves to block alleged disinformation about Biden sparks backlash
It feels like a replay of the email leaks that so damaged Hillary Clinton in 2016. Yesterday, The New York Post published a series of damaging allegations about Hunter Biden, and his father Joe Biden, based on the contents of a laptop Hunter Biden had allegedly dropped off at a repair shop. Yet, again experts are warning that the story may well be part of a disinformation campaign, or manipulatively released by foreign actors.
However, this time there is one key difference. Social media companies have stepped in to stop the story’s spread due to doubts about the article’s credibility, and fears it is an attempt to manipulate the election. Facebook has placed restrictions on linking the article pending review by factcheckers with company spokesperson Andy Stone saying it was “part of our standard process to reduce the spread of misinformation.”
Twitter has also blocked users from posting links to or photos of the story, and users retweeting or clicking an already posted link are warned it “may be unsafe”. Kayleigh McEnany, the White House Press Secretary, claimed that her Twitter account was locked after she shared the story.
While social media companies have already taken steps to limit the spread of misinformation, this represents an unprecedented level of intervention. Reaction to these steps has been swift with many Republicans, who have long claimed social media companies were biased against conservative, saying that the decision is calculated to help Joe Biden.
In a letter he later sent to Jack Dorsey Senator Ted Cruz condemned the move as “quite hypocritical, given its willingness to let other users share less-well-sourced reporting critical of other candidates for public office. Accordingly, this can only be seen as transparent an obvious and transparent attempt by Twitter to influence the upcoming Presidential election.”
My letter to @jack regarding @Twitter’s censorship of the @nypost. pic.twitter.com/o3Ebkbqait
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 14, 2020
Senator Josh Hawley, as well as directing complaints towards the company’s themselves, has lodged a complaint with the Federal Electoral Commission. He argued that Twitter and Facebook were not only engaged in censorship, but that these actions might violate campaign finance law.
My letter to the FEC re @Twitter@Facebook potential violation of federal election law pic.twitter.com/EhOMlj8jzX
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 14, 2020
Meanwhile, Trump appeared to tweet a threat of retaliation. “So terrible that Facebook and Twitter took down the story of “Smoking Gun” emails related to Sleepy Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in the @NYPost . It is only the beginning for them. There is nothing worse than a corrupt politician. REPEAL SECTION 230!!!” Section 230 is a piece of legislation which prevents online companies from being held responsible for content posted on them by third parties, shielding them from potentially vast legal liabilities. The call has been echoed by a variety of other conservative voices.
So terrible that Facebook and Twitter took down the story of “Smoking Gun” emails related to Sleepy Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in the @NYPost. It is only the beginning for them. There is nothing worse than a corrupt politician. REPEAL SECTION 230!!! https://t.co/g1RJFpIVUZ
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2020
Non-Republicans, including some prominent journalists, have been more divided in their response. For some these actions are an example of tech companies stepping in to stop harmful misinformation from spreading. Matthew Dowd, Chief Political Analyst at ABC News, tweeted “So let me get this straight: Senators Cruz and Hawley, President Trump, his staff and the GOP are complaining that false Russian propaganda wasn’t allowed to proliferate on social media and impact our election again?”
So let me get this straight: Senators Cruz and Hawley, President Trump, his staff and the GOP are complaining that false Russian propaganda wasn’t allowed to proliferate on social media and impact our election again?
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) October 14, 2020
Others, however, have expressed worries about large companies wielding censorial powers. Prominent investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald, of WikiLeaks fame, dismissed The Post’s story was “a minor, largely redundant report even if the docs are real.” but also condemned “immense, unchallengeable, unaccountable power of Silicon Valley giants over the flow of information”.
You’re seeing the immense, unchallengeable, unaccountable power of Silicon Valley giants over the flow of information. Imagine if Google joins in.
What’s so amazing is that they never wanted this role. It was foisted on them by people, led by journalists, demanding they censor: https://t.co/cFBfV97Ylt
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 14, 2020
Already, Twitter is beating something of a retreat. Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey stated via Tweet “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.”
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. https://t.co/v55vDVVlgt
— jack (@jack) October 14, 2020
So, what does the story contain and how credible is it?
The most prominent allegation was that Hunter had arranged a meeting between his father and a top executive at the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma less than a year before Joe Biden pressured the Ukrainian government to drop a case against the company. There are also various other salacious and embarrassing details such as a video which appears to show Biden smoking crack while engaged in a sex act.
The Biden campaign has vigorously denied that such a meeting took place saying there is no record of it in Biden’s official schedule. While they couldn’t rule out some sort of informal interaction the insisted any encounter would have been cursory.
The story harks back to the attempted impeachment of Donal Trump at the start of the year over his attempt to pressure the Ukrainian government Trump’s attempt to pressure the Ukrainian government into announcing an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden over Burisma. This was attacked as an abuse of power by Democrats who claimed the allegations of wrongdoing by the Biden’s were spurious, and had been concocted for political reasons.
Indeed, repeated investigations by Democrats and Republicans have failed to turn up any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Hunter Biden. At the impeachment enquiry multiple senior official testified that Biden’s work in Ukraine had in fact increased the likelihood Burisma would be properly investigated. The prosecutor Biden pushed to have dismissed was apparently seen as dragging his feet in the investigation of the company.
Now, The Post has attempted to inject new life into the scandal saying that the new email contradicts Biden’s statement that he had “never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings”.
Many, however, have questioned the report’s credibility and provenance. Other outlets, such as The Washington Post, have stated they have been unable to verify the authenticity of the emails published by the New York Post. Security experts have also voiced scepticism.
Critics have also focused on how The Post has claimed it hear about the information from infamous Trump campaign operative Stephen Bannon, set to face trial for fraud next year, and Rudolph Giuliani who was heavily implicated in the aforementioned Trump-Ukraine scandal. Meanwhile, the computer repairman who found the files on the laptop repeatedly changed the details of his story when interviewed by The Daily Beast.
Alongside questions about disinformation and social media power the most pressing question seems to be how will this affect the election? Will swift social media action prevent Joe Biden from facing fallout? Or will the controversy around the company’s actions make the allegations more damaging to him? Clinton’s email leaked proved vital in tipping the election in 2016 yet Biden’s remarkably steady, and now maybe growing, lead might prove more durable.