Discussion

• @vijaya Vijaya Gadde on x

  So, what's changing? 1. We will no longer remove hacked content unless it is directly shared by hackers or those acting in concert with them 2. We will label Tweets to provide context instead of blocking links from being shared on Twitter

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  This will make no one feel assured weeks ahead of a major election about how much this is happening in real time — as I wrote about Facebook, it's random and its chaotic: Twitter changes policy that blocked a New York Post story about Biden's son https://www.washingtonpost.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/...

• @jonrussell Jon Russell on x

  Twitter blocking a link being shared sets a terrible precedent for governments in Asia, many of which aggressively clamp down on free speech and use court orders to institute censorship, to make the same request. But of course most people only think/care about the US.

• @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/…

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  This seems like a reasonable change. It's appropriate for social media platforms to prevent themselves from being used as the initial distribution point for a hack-forge-leak, but not once the stories hit the press. Twitter and Facebook can't fix bad journalism. https://twitter.c…

• @jackposobiec Jack Posobiec on x

  How do you verify what content is hacked and what isn't? Steve Scully falsely claimed his Twitter was hacked just this week https://twitter.com/...

• @jack @jack on x

  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://twitter.com/...

• @andymstone Andy Stone on x

  While I will intentionally not link to the New York Post, I want be clear that this story is eligible to be fact checked by Facebook's third-party fact checking partners. In the meantime, we are reducing its distribution on our platform.

• @realdonaldtrump Donald J. Trump on x

  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://www.cnbc.com/...

• @dnvolz @dnvolz on x

  “Could it be hacked? I don't know. I don't think so,” Giuliani said in an interview late Wednesday. “If it was hacked, it's for real. If it was hacked. I didn't hack it. I have every right to use it.” https://www.wsj.com/...

• @noupside Renee DiResta on x

  This is related to today's Biden story: A few months ago the fact-respecting portion of the internet was outraged at social media companies allowing Plandemic to go wildly viral, despite stated policies against health misinfo. The video was taken down after millions of views...

• @ridt Thomas Rid on x

  CAUTION ADVISED with this morning's Burisma-Biden E-mail story. For several reasons. https://twitter.com/...

• @jbendery Jennifer Bendery on x

  Josh Hawley just accused Facebook and Twitter of trying to rig the presidential election — feeding right into Trump's grand plan to try to delegitimize the election as he looks on track to lose. https://twitter.com/...

• @sohrabahmari Sohrab Ahmari on x

  This is a Big Tech information coup. This is digital civil war. I, an editor at The New York Post, one of the nation's largest papers by circulation, can't post one of our own stories that details corruption by a major-party presidential candidate, Biden. https://twitter.com/...

• @natashabertrand Natasha Bertrand on x

  New: Biden campaign responds to NY Post story. “The New York Post never asked the Biden campaign about the critical elements of this story...moreover, we have reviewed Joe Biden's official schedules from the time and no meeting, as alleged by the New York Post, ever took place.” …

• @hawleymo Josh Hawley on x

  .@Facebook I want to know on what grounds you are actively censoring a news report about potentially illegal corruption by the Democrat candidate for president. If you have evidence this is “disinformation,” disclose it immediately. Expect a formal inquiry from my office

• @ggreenwald Glenn Greenwald on x

  Look carefully at what Twitter is saying to justify censoring the Biden story. If applied consistently, it'd mean that some of history's most consequential journalism — the Pentagon Papers, WikiLeaks' war logs, Snowden docs, Panama Papers, our Brazil Archive — would be banned. ht…

• @mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x

  What's good about the calls Facebook and Twitter made yesterday isn't the decision but the fact that *they made the decision* and opened themselves up to criticism. Explicit editorial judgment > black box algorithms.

• @presssec Kayleigh McEnany on x

  Censoring political speech is what you'd expect in countries like China, North Korea, or Iran — NOT America. This should scare every single American who values free and open discourse. Do NOT let Big Tech silence YOU‼️ #TwitterCensorship

• @alxthomp Alex Thompson on x

  Wow. twitter going even further than FB and is no longer letting ppl tweet the NYPost story. This is what pops up if you try. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @baybarsorsek @baybarsorsek on x

  How long Facebook has been reducing distribution of a story before it's fact-checked and what happens when a third-party fact-checking partner flags the content as accurate (not necessarily on this story but in principle) is a legitimate question https://twitter.com/...

• @fmanjoo Farhad Manjoo on x

  News flash everything on social media is an editorial decision by the company. Every single thing, the UI, the posts you see, the posts you don't, the metrics, the speed with which everything updates, the colors, it's all human decisions all the way down. It's all subjective

• @daveweigel @daveweigel on x

  WikiLeaks had a 27-day IV drip of Clinton emails that knocked her off message. Twenty-four hours into Huntergate it's already fizzled as an issue for Biden and become the latest fight in the Posting Wars. https://twitter.com/...

• @christopherjm Christopher Miller on x

  New: Facebook reduced the distribution of the NY Post story with unverified claims about the Bidens. But for a year+ it's given a platform to Ukrainian operatives—including one the US sanctioned & deemed an “active Russian agent”—to spread Biden disinfo. https://www.buzzfeednews.…

• @scottlucas Scott Lucas on x

  Facebook may have throttled the New York Post story. But these Ukranian operatives were celebrating all the same. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... via @ChristopherJM

• @rmac18 @rmac18 on x

  The gymnastics here is something. Trump alleges coordination between big tech and the “mainstream media” citing a situation in which platforms cut off distribution of a story from one of the largest newspapers in NY. https://twitter.com/...

• @mattklinman Matt Klinman on x

  This is the right way to look at this. All these “difficult” free speech arguments everyone goes in circles about just go away if we stop flattening out the internet so all expression has to fit through two platforms that take up all the ad money. https://twitter.com/...

• @benedictevans Benedict Evans on x

  Arguing about whether a social network is a ‘publisher’ or a ‘platform’ is about as useful as arguing whether radio is a ‘book’ or a ‘newspaper’. You have to engage with the issue, not spiral off into pedantic arguments about definitions. https://twitter.com/...

• @tedcruz Ted Cruz on x

  Big tech has been getting worse and worse and worse. But they crossed a line here with the New York Post... https://twitter.com/...

• @jerrydunleavy Jerry Dunleavy on x

  .@Twitter is now blocking the follow-up @NYPost piece on Hunter Biden and China. https://twitter.com/...

• @kaycolesjames Kay C. James on x

  .@Twitter and @Facebook's mishandling of a story from the @NYPost is appalling, and they deserve all the scorn they're getting. Regardless of your political views, the suppression of a major news story is highly problematic. We expect and deserve better!

• @yair_rosenberg @yair_rosenberg on x

  Glenn is correct. A world in which social media corporations have this power is a world in which it will eventually be abused. People justifying this as an emergency response to Trump need to remember that emergency powers have a way of sticking around long after the emergency. h…

• @repdougcollins Rep. Doug Collins on x

  .@Facebook's decision to “reduce distribution” of the @nypost's reporting on Joe Biden's ties to Burisma is a grave threat to our democracy. If Facebook continues to use its monopoly to control what news Americans have access to, they will face severe consequences. https://twitte…

• @thestalwart Joe Weisenthal on x

  I'm ok with Facebook and Twitter throttling some links. Just gotta make sure they always make the right choices.

• @danpfeiffer Dan Pfeiffer on x

  The Republican message of the day is that Big Tech is censoring Conservatives https://twitter.com/...

• @andymstone Andy Stone on x

  This is part of our standard process to reduce the spread of misinformation. We temporarily reduce distribution pending fact-checker review. https://about.fb.com/...

• @mathewi Mathew Ingram on x

  A quick reminder that reducing distribution of something is not censorship by any reasonable definition — freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom of reach https://twitter.com/...

• @scottgustin Scott Gustin on x

  BREAKING: Twitter has blocked the NY Post article about Hunter Biden. If you attempt to share the story, you will see this message: “We can't complete this request because this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful.” https://twitter.com/…

• @twittersafety @twittersafety on x

  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.

• @noahmanskar Noah Manskar on x

  The Post's primary Twitter account (@nypost) has also been locked because the Hunter Biden stories violate its rules against “distribution of hacked material,” per email we received from Twitter https://twitter.com/...

• @ichotiner Isaac Chotiner on x

  BREAKING: A bunch of people who have given completely contradictory advice to social media giants for the last four years are shocked and outraged that social media giants are clueless.

• @ggreenwald Glenn Greenwald on x

  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: h…

• @tedcruz Ted Cruz on x

  It's fair to say @ggreenwald and I aren't exactly ideological birds of a feather. But on this he is EXACTLY right. #EndBigTechCensoship https://twitter.com/...

• @ianbremmer Ian Bremmer on x

  Twitter banning the NY Post story on Joe/Hunter Biden is a mistake. Gives the piece more attention than it would otherwise get. And hard to make a credible argument that would see this specific article singled out for such treatment.

• @jason @jason on x

  Last week: these platforms need to be policed!! This week: how dare you censor me!!

• @tedcruz Ted Cruz on x

  My letter to @jack regarding @Twitter's censorship of the @nypost. https://twitter.com/...

• @hawleymo Josh Hawley on x

  This is amazing. Now @Twitter joins @Facebook in censoring the @nypost reporting on Biden. You almost get the idea #bigtech wants to buy this election https://twitter.com/...

• @rudygiuliani Rudy W. Giuliani on x

  “Censorship should be condemned! cc: @Twitter & Facebook NOT the American way!” - @PressSec

• @hawleymo Josh Hawley on x

  Yeah, sure, @Facebook is lot like a supermarket ... except there's only ONE supermarket in town, and they decide who can and can't shop. That's what we call a monopoly https://twitter.com/...

• @ridt Thomas Rid on x

  Relax. Twitter and Facebook are not the internet, and they're not the government. These are private companies. A little bit like a supermarket asking you to wear a mask. You can just stay out or leave if you don't like it.

• @senhawleypress @senhawleypress on x

  NEW — U.S. Senator Josh Hawley has formally requested @Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and @Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism in a coming hearing titled “Digital Platforms and Election Interference.” https://twitter.com…

• @cspan @cspan on x

  Sen. @tedcruz: “Twitter is actively blocking, right now this instant, stories from the New York Post...on Tuesday, the Judiciary Committee, the full committee, will be voting on subpoenas to subpoena @Jack Dorsey to come before our committee.” https://twitter.com/...

• @matthewkeyslive Matthew Keys on x

  Senate Republicans plan to issue a subpoena to Twitter's chief executive Jack Dorsey over the social media company's blocking of a newspaper article because apparently our elected officials have nothing better to do. https://www.theverge.com/...

• @wolven @wolven on x

  And when it was absolutely shown how Facebook's operations led and still lead to election interference, & they were called to task for it, Republicans cried “censorship” about that TOO. Republican motto continues to be “it's only called ‘cheating’ if it doesn't help repubs win.” …

• @mikeelgan Mike Elgan on x

  This is great and I hope it happens. Those Fox-News swilling jerks will have to hear facts about what's actually going on. https://twitter.com/...

• @pnjaban Harmeet K. Dhillon on x

  As I told @Varneyco this morning, these dog and pony shows on Capitol Hill are useless: The move by GOP lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee follows the social-media platform's decision to limit sharing of articles relating to the Bidens https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ

• @profwrightgmu Joshua Wright on x

  I trust the Senator is aware he wrote this on @twitter, not @facebook? This is the equivalent of complaining about the Kroger monopoly while checking out at Safeway. https://twitter.com/...

• @padresj Fr. Robert R. Ballecer on x

  The @GOP won't investigate the STORY itself b/c it's a laughable attempt at election interference. Instead they want to investigate those who blocked it on their networks as a “laughable attempt at election interference.” IOW: “It's BS, but it's OUR BS” https://www.wsj.com/...

• @michael_nielsen Michael Nielsen on x

  Something I find fascinating is when people say something (a) high profile; (b) obviously wrong; (c) lots of people point out in comments that it's wrong; and (d) they don't delete or correct or back down. I'd like to better understand what mental models lead to point (d). https:…

• @cjciaramella CJ Ciaramella on x

  Please Mr. Zuckerberg, if I don't post, I'll die. https://twitter.com/...

• @thegrugq Thaddeus E. Grugq on x

  Subpoenas from Congress are unenforceable. Just ignore it https://twitter.com/...

• @nancylevine @nancylevine on x

  @SenHawleyPress @Twitter @Facebook Rudy Giuliani should also appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee. @Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg can cite @washingtonpost reporting: “The New York Post said it obtained the material from former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a perso…

• @roncoleman Ron Coleman on x

  GOP lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena @jack over social-media platform's decision to limit sharing of articles relating to the Bidens https://www.wsj.com/...

• @charliespiering Charlie Spiering on x

  Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham, Josh Hawley announces subpoena of @jack to appear at the Senate next Friday

• @johncornyn Senator John Cornyn on x

  I will be voting to subpoena https://twitter.com/...

• @theplumlinegs Greg Sargent on x

  Steve Bannon candidly explained how all this works. The key is to somehow vault the disinformation out of the conservative media bubble and into mainstream news coverage, where it gets laundered and legitimized simply by virtue of getting covered there: https://www.washingtonpost…

• @mlpowered Emmanuel Ameisen on x

  Another great edition of @platformer. It includes a reference to the French ban on election coverage in the 24 hours preceding an election, something I wish we had in the US! https://twitter.com/...

• @sarahcuda Sarah Lacy on x

  This is the playbook for smearing and discrediting female journalists too. Tech world loves it despite professing to hate Trumpism. Y-Combinator, Sam Altman, Paul Graham, Uber of course. All done it to me and countless others. https://twitter.com/...

• @simonwdc Simon Rosenberg on x

  Three Stooges. Marx Brothers. Maxwell Smart. Monty Python. Rudy and Donald. https://twitter.com/...

• @noahshachtman Noah Shachtman on x

  .@CaseyNewton is spot on here. https://www.platformer.news/ ...

• @crimealytics Jeff Asher on x

  This is smart and I wonder if the platforms are more than just suspecting a hack and leak. https://twitter.com/...

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  Let's talk about platforms, hacking, and leaking! https://twitter.com/...

• @dhume Sadanand Dhume on x

  Incredibly dumb of @Twitter at multiple levels. This will only: 1. Make ordinary people mistrust the platform and hurt Twitter's already tarnished brand. 2. Get more people to read the @nypost story they're trying to stop people from sharing. https://twitter.com/...

• @amykremer Amy Kremer on x

  Still blocking because “spammy” or “unsafe” This is election interference & an in-kind contribution to the Biden campaign. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...