[Thread] Twitter updates Hacked Materials Policy, says it won't remove content unless shared by hackers themselves and will label tweets instead of block links

@vijaya 2020-10-19 Vijaya Gadde

Context & Ripple Effects

Four days after blocking links to the NY Post's Biden story on Hacked Materials grounds, Twitter is rewriting that policy rather than defending it: content shared by people other than the hackers stays up, and tweets get a label instead of a removed link.

The move lands on ground Twitter had already prepared — policy head Vijaya Gadde has been testing explanatory labels on rule-breaking but notable tweets since early 2019, so the new policy extends an existing tool rather than inventing one.

First-order effects

Twitter users can now tweet hacked-materials stories like the NY Post's without the link being blocked; enforcement narrows to the hackers who obtained the material themselves.
The @twittersafety account's earlier justification for the block is effectively superseded — private-information and hacked-materials claims no longer trigger automatic removal of third-party shares.

Second-order effects

Rival platforms face the same choice Twitter just made publicly: keep removing hacked-material coverage and absorb accusations of election interference, or adopt label-first handling and absorb the accuracy risk.
Journalists and publishers regain a distribution channel on Twitter that was closed last week, shifting the cost of contested stories back onto readers who must judge labeled content themselves.

Third-order effects

If the pattern holds, platform governance consolidates around 'label, don't remove' for newsworthy-but-violating content — a contestable-gatekeeping model where the platform's judgment is shown alongside the speech rather than substituted for it.
Policy written in response to one high-profile enforcement decision becomes precedent: each future hacked-materials case will be measured against this rewrite, narrowing platforms' discretion case by case.

The trend: Major platforms are retreating from removal-based moderation toward visible labels on contested content, with public backlash forcing policy rewrites within days rather than years.

Discussion

@benyt Ben Smith on x
Incredible stuff from @katie_robertson inside the New York Post's newsroom as the bosses rammed a story through on Rudy's sayso, and over reporters' objections https://www.nytimes.com/...
@mtaibbi Matt Taibbi on x
While Facebook says the New York Post story must be kept out of sight until verified, the standard for the Steele dossier was opposite. In that case, we were told “raw intelligence” should be published so that “Americans can make up their own minds.” https://taibbi.substack.com/ …
@kylegriffin1 Kyle Griffin on x
“An Eastern European expert in digital forensics who has examined some of the Ukrainian documents leaked to the New York Post told me he found anomalies — such as American-style capitalization of the names of ministries — that suggest fakery.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
If the reporters who wrote it won't attach their name to it, why should Twitter attach a retweet button to it? https://twitter.com/...
@cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x
one thing that happens when institutions fail is that we look pretty desperately toward whatever people *do* have power https://twitter.com/...
@benyt Ben Smith on x
One reporter “had little to do with the reporting or writing of the article, said three people with knowledge of how it was prepared. She learned that her byline was on the story only after it was published.” Yikes. https://twitter.com/...
@cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x
I wrote about Trump vs the platforms and the part we don't talk about as much: How a lot of our anger toward Facebook and Twitter is actually about government power and accountability (and the lack of it) https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@postopinions @postopinions on x
It would be the height of irresponsibility to simply broadcast these dubious allegations without first verifying their veracity and provenance, @MaxBoot writes https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@kylegriffin1 Kyle Griffin on x
New York Post pushed the Hunter Biden piece amid newsroom doubts. Some reporters withheld their bylines and questioned the credibility the article. Staff members also had concerns about the reliability of its sources and its timing. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@chrismurphyct Chris Murphy on x
5/ And you don't have to believe me. Believe the Department or Justice - Trump's own FBI is investigating the “leaked” Hunter Biden emails as Russian spycraft. https://www.cnn.com/...
@maxboot Max Boot on x
Facebook and Twitter are private-sector companies and they have no obligation to pass along possible Russian disinformation. That's not “censorship.” It's editorial judgment, and it's something we need more of online. @PostOpinions https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@dellcam My Beautiful Son Dell on x
twitter went from “if someone hacked it, you can't tweet it” one day to “fuck it, tweet this guy's phone number lol” the next https://twitter.com/...
@kateconger O...K on x
Twitter has lifted its restrictions on the NY Post article https://www.nytimes.com/...
@nxthompson @nxthompson on x
Twitter should never let people share hacked materials! Right? Wait, what then about the police docs this past June? Or the Panama Papers? The company's confusing backpedaling is not a help. But there is a tough line to define here. https://www.wired.com/...
@anibundel Undead Ani Bundel on x
This would be a whole lot more straightforward if Twitter would ban it for honest reasons: That it's obviously a planted story designed to interfere with the election & its Twitter's civil duty to deplatform it. https://twitter.com/...
@thedextriarchy Adi Robertson on x
Facebook/Twitter restricting the New York Post's Hunter Biden story is a mess, so I tried to break down the important pieces of it. https://www.theverge.com/...
@fridaghitis Frida Ghitis on x
The Hunter Biden story looks more and more like a hostile foreign power's effort to influence the US election https://twitter.com/...
@shiringhaffary Shirin Ghaffary on x
After facing pressure from Republicans, Twitter has now reversed course on how it's handling the unsubstantiated NY Post story. https://twitter.com/...
@kylegriffin1 Kyle Griffin on x
Breaking WaPo: U.S. intelligence agencies warned the White House last year that Rudy Giuliani was the target of an influence operation by Russian intelligence, according to four former officials familiar with the matter. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@bgurley Bill Gurley on x
Wrt censoring information on social networks, I strongly agree with @benthompson idea of solving the problem with “more speech.” Allow others to tag, highlight, challenge. Asking companies to censor makes them more powerful, not less. Quite ironic considering other concerns.
@joshuahol Joshua Holland on x
But working the refs is effective! https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@ericboehlert Eric Boehlert on x
Twitter found its spine for 12 hrs....then caved to GOP bullying; https://www.nytimes.com/...
@stacyontheright @stacyontheright on x
Selectively enforced policies are censorship. Explain it to the Judiciary Conmittee. https://twitter.com/...
@gregpmiller Greg Miller on x
Trump aides delivered stark warning to the president in December: “Your friend Rudy has been worked by Russian assets in Ukraine” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@andrewsweiss Andrew S. Weiss on x
The shock of watching Trump/Giuliani gleefully embrace Russian disinformation/influence operations never wears off. @gregpmiller @nakashimae @shaneharris https://twitter.com/...
@kylegriffin1 Kyle Griffin on x
The warnings led national security adviser O'Brien to caution Trump in a private convo that any info Giuliani brought back should be considered contaminated by Russia. The message was, “Do what you want to do, but your friend Rudy has been worked by Russian assets in Ukraine.” ht…
@briannormoyle @briannormoyle on x
Russian intelligence worked Trump's personal lawyer to feed him disinformation and the White House has known about it since last year. Trump shrugged it off when warned about it. Our democracy will not survive four more years of this. #VOTE https://twitter.com/...
@kylegriffin1 Kyle Griffin on x
“Several senior admin officials ‘all had a common understanding’ that Giuliani was being targeted by the Russians, said the former official who recounted O'Brien's intervention. That group included A.G. William Barr, FBI Director Christopher Wray and White Counsel Pat Cipollone.”…
@ericg1247 Eric Garcia on x
So he is a russian spy or an idiot???? https://twitter.com/...
@kylegriffin1 Kyle Griffin on x
The warnings were based on multiple sources, including intercepted communications, that showed Giuliani was interacting with people tied to Russian intel during a 2019 trip to Ukraine. The intel raised concerns that Giuliani was being used to feed Russian misinformation to Trump.…
@kasparov63 Garry Kasparov on x
The Trump administration and his cronies are always shocking and never surprising. https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
But! Twitter will still continue to block links to the NYPost story under a *separate* policy, because the story contains links to email addresses and personal information, which are not allowed on the site. tune in tomorrow for our next installment https://www.nytimes.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
the NYP*st story raised a fresh round of rancor between conservatives, Twtr and FB, and has raised questions concerning content moderation policies — all a mere 19 days before the most consequential election in years w/ @kateconger https://www.nytimes.com/...
@rokhanna Ro Khanna on x
This is an admirable reversal consistent with 1st Amendment principles that allowed for the publication of the Pentagon Papers and Wikileaks Iraq War logs. Appreciate your willingness to engage in a deliberative process. @jack @vijaya @ryangrim @ggreenwald https://twitter.com/...
@jess Jessica Verrilli on x
This is such a hard job but I have total faith @vijaya and the Twitter team are acting in a principled manner, listening to the feedback, and transparently evolving. https://twitter.com/...
@jeffseibert Jeff Seibert on x
Vijaya has had one of the hardest jobs in tech for years. You may not always agree with her, but I can vouch that she (and her team) considers every issue carefully, and they care deeply. Props for sharing their thoughts clearly and quickly. This is not easy. https://twitter.com/…

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