Tech

Twitter Says It Blocked NY Post Hunter Biden Article Because It Contains Hacked Data

The social media giant also drew on what it said was a lack of authoritive reporting on the origins of the emails as a reason to stop the spread of the article.
Joe Biden
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On Wednesday, Twitter stopped users from sharing an article from the New York Post which shakily claimed to have evidence of how Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden, introduced a Ukranian businessman to his father. The information was allegedly taken from a laptop left at a Delaware computer repair shop and was given to Rudy Giuliani, according to the article.

Twitter told Motherboard it started blocking sharing of the article in line with the site's policy against hacked material.

"In line with our Hacked Materials Policy, as well as our approach to blocking URLs, we are taking action to block any links to or images of the material in question on Twitter," a Twitter spokesperson told Motherboard in a statement.

That hacked materials policy reads, "we don’t permit the use of our services to directly distribute content obtained through hacking that contains private information, may put people in physical harm or danger, or contains trade secrets.” The New York Post said it obtained the emails from a Mac repair shop in Delaware which handled a laptop containing the material. 

Twitter's action also stemmed from what it said was a lack of authoritative reporting by the New York Post in terms of verifying where the information it published was sourced from.