Facebook and Twitter took action on Oct. 14 to stop people from spreading a story about Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son, in the latest escalation of open interference in the upcoming election.
“This is part of our standard process to reduce the spread of misinformation. We temporarily reduce distribution pending fact-checker review.”
Twitter prevented many users from posting a link to the Post story, including the paper’s op-ed editor, Sohrab Ahmari.
A Twitter spokesperson told news outlets in a statement, “In line with our Hacked Materials Policy, as well as our approach to blocking URLs, we are taking action to block any links to or images of the material in question on Twitter.”
The policy states that Twitter doesn’t “permit the use of our services to directly distribute content obtained through hacking that contains private information, may put people in physical harm or danger, or contains trade secrets.”
Ahmari called the action by Twitter “digital civil war,” while Trump’s campaign said Facebook’s action showed it “is actively interfering in the election” and “is rigging the election for Joe Biden.”
“This is outrageous,” Tim Murtaugh, the campaign’s director of communications, said in a tweet.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote in a tweet, “This is [Big Tech] control of news & speech, nationwide, in real time—all in an attempt to control an election.”
Critics noted that Stone used to work for Democrats in Congress, including former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).
Facebook, Twitter, and other technology giants are facing heightened scrutiny from Congress, mainly Republicans, because of evidence showing bias against the GOP.
The Trump administration recently proposed an alteration to Section 230 of the Communications and Decency Act, proposing a rollback of liability protections that currently shield Facebook and some other tech platforms from many lawsuits.