On Wednesday night, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey apologized for the company’s actions in banning the sharing of an article reported by the New York Post containing stories about Joe Biden and his involvement with a Ukrainian company.
The CEO said that their actions on the New York Post article “was not great” and the blocking the sharing of the said article were “unacceptable”
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. https://t.co/v55vDVVlgt
— jack (@jack) October 14, 2020
However, despite being accused of election interference and censorship, the CEO stood by his decision to block the sharing of stories that contain the said article.
In relation to this, Jack Dorsey explained that the company is banning the sharing of the New York Post article because “personal information was shared.”
In his apology, Jack Dorsey wrote that there had been a lack of communication about Twitter’s decision to block or ban sharing of these posts, which he said was “unacceptable.” However, he still stands by his decision to block it.
The CEO then shared a link to a statement from the company, which said that the reason for restricting these links was because there was personal and private information that had been shared in the New York Post article.
The images contained in the articles include personal and private information — like email addresses and phone numbers — which violate our rules.https://t.co/plPa5SZ3we
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) October 14, 2020
Previously, President Trump already threatened to remove the U.S. legal protection that exempts social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook from liability for the materials that their users posts on their platforms.
The President also called for the repeal of the law, which is otherwise known as Section 230. He talked about how “terrible” the social media giants are for “reducing circulation” of the New York Post article, which talks about his rival, Joe Biden.
This is not the first time that the President brought up Section 230. President Trump had previously threatened to repeal said the law that protects them due to the fact that these social media platforms are censoring some of his contents.
Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act contains the law that provides a legal “safe harbor” for internet companies and social media platforms.
In this U.S. law, internet companies like Twitter and Facebook are generally exempt from liability that their users’ posts on their platform.
Demonstration of the big tech’s bias towards Joe Biden
After this incident, many people talked about the bias of these big tech companies towards the left. They cited the fact that there are many anti-Trump posts and stories that are being shared, posted, and circulated online without intervention on their part even though most of these stories were debunked and denied by the Trump administration.
Many people are angered, saying that the action of Twitter on banning the sharing of posts containing said article demonstrates big tech’s bias towards the left. People also emphasized how anti-Trump stories have been posted and shared online without intervention despite denials from the President or conservatives over the years.
Jack Dorsey’s apology also said that his company’s action had been “unacceptable” after it locked the personal account of White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for sharing on Twitter information related to New York Post.
The New York Post story that was being blocked and banned from being shared talked about how former Vice President, Joe Biden, met with Vadym Pozharskyi, a Ukrainian businessman, who was then associate of his son, Hunter Biden. Months thereafter, Joe Biden pressured Ukrainian officials to fire a prosecutor who was investigating Posharskyi’s firm.
If these pieces of evidence are proven to be true, it will raise serious questions on whether or not Biden abused his powers as Vice President.
