Elections

Twitter CEO admits it was a ‘mistake’ to lock the NY Post out of its Twitter account after the Hunter Biden exposé

Published

3 years ago

November 17, 2020

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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Tuesday admitted it was a “mistake” to lock the New York Post out of its Twitter account and to restricting the spread of the newspaper’s October exposé about Hunter Biden and his foreign business dealings.

On Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about amending Section 230, as well as the social media giant’s practices when it comes to its misinformation, the Twitter chief admitted that the move was wrong. Also attending the hearing was Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and both tech czars had to answer questions regarding the reasoning behind their policies, as well as questions about ‘hacked materials’ policies and the 2020 presidential election.

Both social media platforms have been heavily criticized by conservatives, with conservatives saying that the sites censor and restrict content that promotes conservative politics.

“We recognize it as a mistake that we made, both in terms of the intention of the policy and also the enforcement action of not allowing people to share it publicly or privately,” Dorsey said when replying to a question from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) about The Post being shut out.

Dorsey then added that the action “corrected…within 24 hours.” Twitter, however, did not unlock The Post‘s account for two weeks. The drawn-out battle between the two ended when Twitter gave in and unlocked The Post‘s account. Prior to that, the platform said it would unlock the account only if the New York Post deleted the tweets containing the offending articles.

Furthermore, Dorsey acknowledged at a separate point during his opening remarks that the quick decision to lock The Post out of its account and its determination that the materials in the exposé were hacked were made without evidence.

“We made a quick interpretation, using no other evidence, that the materials in the article were obtained through hacking and, according to our policy, we blocked them from being spread,” he said.

At the hearing, Dorsey also said that it was a “mistake” to censor a tweet from the acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Mark Morgan, about the wall being constructed at the U.S.-Mexico border. Morgan was also locked out of his account for a tweet praising the border wall which, according to Twitter, violated its “hateful conduct” policy.

“Every mile helps us stop gang members, murderers, sexual predators and drugs from entering our country,” he wrote in the tweet, saying that “walls work.”

Last month, the Zuckerberg and Dorsey were joined by Google CEO Sundar Pichai at separate hearing held by the Senate Commerce Committee also relating to Section 230.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

Elections

Durham to testify before House Judiciary Committee

Published

2 days ago

May 26, 2023

Sara Carter Staff

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On June 20, Special Counsel John Durham will testify appear before the House Intelligence Committee in a closed-door briefing. The next day, he will testify in front of the Judiciary Committee about his 300-page reportdetailing his investigation into the FBI probe of alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian officials.

The news broke Friday that Durham will be testifying on the report, which found the Department of Justice and the FBI did not have “any actual evidence of collusion” between Russian officials and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Instead, the agencies began their Crossfire Hurricane investigation based on “raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence,” the report said. “Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we conclude that the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,” Durham wrote.

The report also confirmed that the FBI did not give due consideration to the possibility that the Steele Dossier, which was used to obtain a FISA warrant to surveil Trump campaign aide Carter Page, was Russian disinformation.

FBI leaders displayed “serious lack of analytical rigor,” according to Durham, and they relied significantly on. “investigative leads provided or funded (directly or indirectly) by Trump’s political opponents,” referring to staffers and allies of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, whose campaign funded the Steele dossier through its law firm Perkins Coie.

National Review reminds readers, “The dossier was created by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele and accused Trump and his campaign aides of collaborating with Kremlin officials.”

Durham released his report nearly four years after then-attorney general Bill Barr tasked him with investigation the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

The FBI responded to the report in saying that the “conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time.”

“Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented,” the bureau said. “This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and rightly expect.”