Nick Clegg 'was involved in Facebook's decision to hush-up story about Joe Biden's son' that led to social media giant being branded the Democrat's 'PR team' by Republicans
Former British Deputy Prime Minister Sir Nick Clegg was involved in Facebook's decision to 'reduce the distribution' of a New York Post Joe Biden story, reports suggest.
The social media firm was accused of 'acting as Joe Biden's PR team' by top Republicans for hushing up the story just days before the US election on November 3.
Sir Nick, who left the UK government in 2015, is now the vice-president of global affairs and communications at the social media giant.
The Post story alleges that Biden met with a Ukrainian businessman in 2015 - when the businessman was paying his son Hunter $50,000-a-month.
Months later, Biden - then the US Vice President - pressured Ukrainian officials into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the businessman, it claims.
Facebook announced on Wednesday that it had started 'reducing distribution' of the New York Post's story until their army of third-party 'fact checkers' had vetted it.
Nick Clegg was involved in Facebook's decision to 'reduce the distribution' of a New York Post Joe Biden, reports suggest
Hunter and Joe Biden. The Post story suggests that Joe, while VP, had a meeting with a Ukrainian businessman after being introduced to him by Hunter, eight months before pressuring Ukrainian officials to fire a prosecutor who was investigating the businessman
Most of Facebook's decisions are made by automatic software - or by moderation staff, The Daily Telegraph reports.
But, for sensitive moderation issues that hold cultural or political significance, Facebook's vice-president of content policy, vice-president of global public policy and then Sir Nick look into the case as it passes up a chain.
Only the most high-profile cases will hit Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg or COO Sheryl Sandberg's desks.
It is not known who had the final say in the distribution of the Joe Biden story and Facebook declined to comment to the newspaper.
On Thursday, Twitter locked the account of Trump's re-election campaign for posting the Joe Biden Ukraine story - after shutting down the White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany's account over the same thing.
Conservatives on Thursday said the extraordinary move - taken just 19 days before the election - gives Biden's campaign an unfair advantage.
On Wednesday night, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany had her account locked over the same thing.
Trump has now threatened to revoke Twitter and Facebook's Section 230 protections - which shield them from being sued over content posted on their platforms.
The Team Trump Twitter has now been locked for posting the New York Post story about Joe and Hunter Biden 19 days before the election
Since announcing it started 'reducing distribution' of the story, Facebook hasn't given any information about why it took the step, who the fact checkers are or when they will allow it to be shared again.
Twitter followed them, blocking people from posting links to the article online.
On Wednesday night, CEO Jack Dorsey apologized for the opaqueness of the decision and said it was 'unacceptable' that the company didn't explain themselves sooner.
He stood by blocking it, claiming the article contains 'private information' which breaches Twitter's policies.
The story alleges that Biden met with a Ukrainian businessman in 2015 when the businessman was paying his son Hunter $50,000-a-month. Months later, Biden - then the Vice President - pressured Ukrainian officials into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the businessman.
Neither Joe nor Hunter has denied the story outright. Now, many are accusing the two tech companies of playing favorites because no anti-Trump story by a legitimate news organization has ever faced such tough restrictions.
In his apology, Dorsey said there had been a lack of communication surrounding Twitter's decision which was 'unacceptable' but he stands by the decision to block it.
'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,' he said.
He then linked to a statement from the company that said it was restricting the link because 'personal and private information' had been shared in the story.
The Post story says that the former Vice President met with Ukrainian businessman Vadym Pozharskyi, as associate of his son Hunter, months before Biden would pressure Ukrainian officials to fire a prosecutor who was investigating Pozharskyi's firm.
Facebook and Twitter were accused of 'election interference' for throttling the article.
Facebook claimed it needed to be independently verified by fact-checkers before it could be shared on their platforms.
Twitter gave no explanation up-front.
Dorsey's apology was the latest in a string of developments surrounding the issue that included;
- White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany having her personal Twitter account locked for reposting the article
- Trump campaign's Twitter was locked for posting the article too
- Facebook refusing to reveal who their fact-checkers are or who specifically among them would be responsible for vetting the Post's story
- President Trump spoke at a campaign rally where he condemned big tech's handling of the issue
- His son, Donald Trump Jr., led a chorus of conservative voices accusing the companies of election interference
- The New York Post accused Facebook of starting a 'tech civil war'
- Biden's campaign did not deny the veracity of the emails, saying only that they could not find a record of any meeting between him and the Ukrainian businessman
- The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said it was investigating the emails
'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,' Trump tweeted Wednesday evening.
'It is only the beginning for them.
'There is nothing worse than a corrupt politician. REPEAL SECTION 230!' he added, threatening the protections law.
Twitter now look to have stepped back from its actions, however, with Dorsey on Wednesday night accepting the company may have been wrong.
'Our communication around our actions on the @nypost article was not great,' he tweeted.
'And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why we're blocking: unacceptable.'
He quoted a further tweet from the Twitter Safety account which said it wanted to 'provide much needed clarity around the actions we've taken with respect to two NY Post articles that were first Tweeted this morning'.
Twitter now claims that they placed the restrictions on the articles as they contained personal information such as phone numbers, as well as information that had been hacked.
'The images contained in the articles include personal and private information — like email addresses and phone numbers — which violate our rules,' the company stated.
'As noted this morning, we also currently view materials included in the articles as violations of our Hacked Materials Policy.
'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,' it concluded.
Some have accused the company of hypocrisy, however, as other linked material from other sources, such as Wikileaks, still appear on the platform.
In an editorial, the New York Post also refuted the hacking claims, stating that the original story explains where the material came from.
'Our story explains where the info came from, and a Senate committee now confirms it also received the files from the same source', it hit back.
The publication also complained that neither Twitter or Facebook restricted the New York Times' series of exposés on Donald Trump's tax returns.
That series did not publish personal information but has not revealed its exact source. The Times says it was 'was legally obtained by reporters'.
The announcement from Twitter came after one of the White House's most prominent figures, Kayleigh McEnany, was hit by the restrictions.
On Wednesday evening, her personal account still featured a retweet of a separate Post article referencing the original story yet there was also a note at on the page stating that a previous tweet was no longer available.
According to screenshots shared to Twitter, McEnany received a message to say a tweet violated Twitter's rules.
An example of the emails with personal details shared in the New York Post article
Both McEnany's personal account and her account as WH Press Secretary could still be viewed as of Wednesday night.
The New York also said its own Twitter account was locked.
This is not the first time that Trump has come for Section 230.
Under the U.S. law, internet companies are generally exempt from liability for the material users post on their networks.
Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act - itself part of a broader telecom law - provides a legal 'safe harbor' for internet companies.
Trump has previously threatened to repeal the law, angered at social media platforms actions in censoring some of his content.
The New York Post story suggests that Biden met with Ukrainian businessman Vadym Pozharskyi in 2015, when Hunter was working for Pozharskyi's gas firm. Months later, Biden pressured Ukrainian officials into firing a prosecutor who was looking in to the firm.
If true, it raises serious questions of whether or not Biden abused his power as Vice President.
Facebook, however, has decided to 'reduce distribution' of the article until it has been verified by its own, third-party 'fact checkers'.
It didn't say why it was taking the unusual step.
Later, Twitter users reported being unable to share links to the story online.
Conservatives accused big tech of interfering in the election and trying to protect Biden by 'censoring' the story while allowing unflattering stories about Trump to spread like wildfire.
One New York Post editor called it a 'digital civil war' and others asked why the sites hadn't taken the same tough line on anti-Trump stories.
The Post's online editorial on the issue read in part: 'Censor first, ask questions later: It's an outrageous attitude for one of the most powerful platforms in the United States to take.'
'No one is disputing the veracity of The Post's story — not even Hunter Biden,' it added.
'His lawyer George R. Mesires wouldn't deign to comment on the reporting, simply attacking the messenger.
'The Biden campaign did the same, dismissing it all as 'discredited,' while saying that no meeting showed up on Joe Biden's official schedule on those dates (well if it wasn't 'official,' guess it didn't happen).
'Yet Facebook is deliberately trying to keep its users from reading and deciding for themselves what it means.
'This, when it did nothing to restrict access to the recent New York Times story on President Trump's tax returns.
And the Times didn't say a word about how it obtained that confidential personal data,' the Post's piece continued.
Andy Stone, who is a policy communications director at Facebook announced the decision on Twitter.
'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,' he said.
Donald Jr. was among the first to criticize it but others, including Republican Senator Josh Hawley, are now demanding answers from Facebook.
Andy Stone, who is a policy communications director at Facebook announced the decision on Twitter on Wednesday. Aside from his tweet, the company has said nothing
The Team Trump campaign Twitter account has also been locked for trying to share the article
'Are you kidding me? After all the lies that they pushed about us and Russia collusion for years... now there's credible evidence against the Bidens and they eliminated on their platform?
'Give me a break big tech has way too much power and it needs to be stopped?
'Joe said he never met these people and here's an email refuting then why don't they actually fat check in rather than just taking it off their platform.
'They know it will hurt Biden so they will do what they can to cover it up, that's what they do,' he fumed.
In an open letter to Facebook, Sen. Hawley said: 'It has come to my attention that this news report—one clearly relevant to the public interest—has been censored on Facebook.
'The seemingly selective nature of this public intervention suggests partiality on the part of Facebook.
'And your efforts to suppress the distribution of content revealing potentially unethical activity by a candidate for president raises a number of additional questions, to which I expect responses immediately.'
In its editorial, the Post said: 'So much for Facebook's claims to be a neutral platform: One of its top execs just put the social-media giant firmly in the pro-Biden camp.
'Andy Stone, the social-media company's policy communications manager, boasted about burying The Post's story on proof that Hunter Biden merchandized access to his dad.
'Especially when Stone wears his own bias on his sleeve: The quick biography he posts on Twitter shows his long history of working for Democrats, including lefty then-Sen. Barbara Boxer and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.'
Facebook has been accused of election interference for making the decision
Others accused Facebook of protecting Biden, the Democratic Presidential Candidate, while allowing unflattering stories about President Trump to spread.
Conservative media outlet The Federalist said the company was now 'officially censoring' the Post.
Facebook has not responded to inquiries about why it has reason to doubt the story or squash it.
It is also unclear what the extent of the circulation reduction is.
The New York Post is historically Conservative and the source for the story was Rudy Giuliani, one of President Trump's closest aides.
He gave the Post a trove of emails in which Ukrainian businessman Vadym Pozharskyi thanked Hunter for introducing him to his father, then the Vice President.
Within months of the 2015 meeting that Pozharskyi refers to in the emails, Biden had successfully pressured Ukrainian officials to fire a prosecutor who was looking into Pozharskyi's business.
At the time, Hunter was being paid $50,000-a-month by Pozharskyi's gas firm to act as a consultant, despite the fact he'd had no experience working in the gas industry.
After the Post story emerged on Wednesday, the Biden campaign said he had never met Vadym Pozharskyi.
Biden has repeatedly insisted he was never influenced by Hunter's dealings with Ukraine when he was Vice President.
The emails were taken from a damaged laptop which was left, mysteriously, in a Delaware tech repair shop.
It had a Beau Biden Foundation sticker on it and the person who dropped it off - who has not been identified - never collected it again.
The store owner looked through the computer's hard drive and not only found the emails but also found a video of Hunter Biden, a self-confessed drug addict, smoking crack while engaging in a sex act.
After Facebook's announcement on Wednesday, many asked if the company - which is notoriously left-leaning - would have applied the same type of scrutiny to the New York Times or any other Democrat-friendly media outlets.
Earlier this year, when the Times published an expose about Trump only paying $750 in federal income tax for two years, the story spread like wildfire on social media.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg routinely resists sharing his political leanings.
In recent years, he has been attacked on both sides of the aisle for occupying too much of the tech industry and market while resisting oversight boards.
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