USA TODAY International Edition
Twitter’s blocking enflames lawmakers
Execs: Action on Biden laptop story a mistake
WASHINGTON – The House hearing Wednesday into Twitter’s brief suppression of a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop outlined the queasiness of former executives to block it and provided a bare- knuckle arena for partisan lawmakers to debate allegations against President Joe Biden.
Former Twitter executives told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee the company blocked links to the New York Post story in October 2020 because of similarities to the posting of leaks from hacked Democratic computers before the 2016 election. The executives called the 24hour suppression a mistake and said it was difficult to judge between contentious and dangerous speech during a campaign.
Against that backdrop, Republican lawmakers argued Twitter’s decision could have thrown the election to Biden rather than former President Donald Trump. Some lawmakers called for legislation to prevent Twitter from blocking posts or government agencies from recommending against publication.
But Democrats called the hearing “silly” and a “bizarre political stunt” because Twitter is a private company free to make its own decisions about what to publish. Democrats also questioned the basic allegations against Biden stemming from the laptop as “categorically false.”
The laptop has become a focal point of Republican investigations because it contains a trove of documents and pictures about Hunter Biden. News organizations have confirmed the legitimacy of the laptop abandoned at a Delaware repair shop in 2019, but investigations continue about what the contents mean.
Former executives call 2020 laptop decision mistake
Former Twitter executives said elements of the New York Post story in October 2020 appeared under an “initial assessment” similar to the results from the 2016 theft of Democratic documents distributed by Wikileaks.
The company blocked links to the story before reversing course 24 hours later. But the former executives said people could still post comments about the story and discuss it.
“Our judgment was colored by the experience of 2016 and by the very real Russian activities we saw play out that year,” said Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former global head of trust and security, who didn’t agree with the decision to suppress the story. “But this isn’t a case where I was right, and others were wrong: The decisions here aren’t straightforward, and hindsight is 20/ 20.”
Comer: Twitter able to ‘ suppress and delegitimize’ news about Hunter Biden’s laptop
The committee chairman, Rep. James Comer, R- Ky., said the result was to “suppress and delegitimize” information about alleged Biden family business schemes.
“Twitter, under the leadership of our witnesses today, was a private company the federal government used to accomplish what it constitutionally cannot: limit the free exercise of speech,” said Comer.
Democrats call inquiry ‘ silly’ and ‘ bizarre political stunt’
The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D- Md., called the inquiry an “authentically trivial pursuit” because Twitter is a private company, blocked links to the story briefly and later apologized.
“Silly does not begin to capture this obsession,” said Raskin.
Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson, said the inquiry pursued “long- debunked conspiracy theories” and was a “bizarre political stunt.”