Twitter and Facebook said they were limiting the distribution of a series of news articles by the New York Post, supposedly containing unverified claims about Democratic president nominee Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden. Facebook restricted users from linking to the articles until they could be fact-checked by the company's third-party partners. Twitter, on the other hand, blocked users from posting the articles or even photos from them. Twitter and Facebook's actions come during a contentious period in American politics, just weeks ahead of the country's presidential elections. This is also perhaps the first time either social media giant has blocked a news story from a major publisher. What is the Post story about? The New York Post published a series of news stories, reporting on alleged links between Hunter Biden and Ukraine, claiming that Biden had tried to introduce a top Ukrainian company executive to his then-vice president father. It cited emails that were apparently sourced form Biden's computer that had been left behind at a computer shop in Delaware. Twitter blocks due to concerns about 'hacked', private information Twitter, which arguably imposed greater restrictions, initially banned the content without making a public announcement. Users who tried to share the stories as tweets or as direct messages (DM) were unable to do so, only to be warned the stories were breaking Twitter's policies. After facing public backlash for the lack of information and context, Twitter elaborated its stance, citing its policy on sharing "hacked materials". The Post, in its reportage,…
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