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Twitter Says Site Censored New York Post’s Hunter Biden Story for ‘Hacked Materials’ Inside

© Pixabay/CC0Twitter Logo, Cyber
Twitter Logo, Cyber - Sputnik International
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Twitter has issued a clarification on its “Hacked Materials Policy” following fallout from the social media platform’s decision to block two New York Post articles about Hunter Biden. However, some netizens are arguing the platform has not been consistent with its application of the rule.

“We want to provide much needed clarity around the actions we’ve taken with respect to two NY Post articles that were first Tweeted this morning,” Twitter Safety tweeted Thursday night. “The images contained in the articles include personal and private information - like email addresses and phone numbers - which violate our rules.”

This announcement came hours after Twitter users were blocked from tweeting out a link to a New York Post article titled “Hunter Biden emails show leveraging connections with his father to boost Burisma pay.”

Facebook also limited the distribution of the article on its platform.

“As noted this morning, we also currently view materials included in the articles as violations of our Hacked Materials Policy,” noted Twitter Safety in the Thursday night thread. “Commentary on or discussion about hacked materials, such as articles that cover them but do not include or link to the materials themselves, aren’t a violation of this policy. Our policy only covers links to or images of hacked material themselves.”

The safety arm of the social media platform went on to claim that the policy was “established in 2018” and “prohibits the use of our service to distribute content obtained without authorization.”

“We don’t want to incentivize hacking by allowing Twitter to be used as distribution for possibly illegally obtained materials,” it added.

Twitter’s announcement of this alleged longstanding rule prompted the responses of many netizens, some of whom attempted to cast a light on the platform’s selective censorship.

“Our communication around our actions on the @nypost article was not great,” Dorsey tweeted alongside the Twitter Safety announcement. “And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why we’re blocking: unacceptable.”

The tech giant’s decision to block the story prompted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) to issue letters to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and the Federal Election Commission, respectively.

US President Donald Trump and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, also spoke out against the censorship and called for the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which protects internet platforms from legal liability for third-party content, treating them as distributors rather than publishers of information.

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