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Twitter did not violate any election law in censoring Hunter Biden laptop story, government finds

 

Colleen Cronin

Tech

Posted on Sep 15, 2021   Updated on Sep 20, 2021, 1:05 pm CDT

The Federal Election Commission found that Twitter did not violate any election rules by censoring a story about allegedly incriminating emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop.

The FEC decided in a 6-0 vote that there was “no reason to believe” Twitter, Inc., its founder Jack Dorsey, then company head of communications Brandon Borrman, or Joe Biden’s presidential campaign made or accepted corporate in-kind contributions with its actions.  

Dorsey had previously apologized for the way Twitter handled the New York Post story. At the time, it blocked users ability to share or directly message the story and limited users who shared it without giving context for why it was doing so. The story centered around emails allegedly found on a ditched laptop that may have belong to Hunter Biden. According to the New York Post‘s reporting, one emailed showed Hunter using his father’s political prowess in order to increase his compensation from the Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma. 

Twitter had blocked the material under its guidelines against hacked material. 

Some experts and readers were skeptical of the story when it was published.

When some outlets tried to report on the emails, they ran into obstacles. NBC reported about its own process of digging into the allegations. Several outlets have continued to report on the laptop, and though some people still doubt its provenance, the Bidens have not filed any suits challenging the veracity of the stories published.


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*First Published: Sep 15, 2021, 3:10 pm CDT