Twitter says it banned controversial New York Post articles about Hunter Biden for violating its policies against doxxing and sharing hacked materials

twitter jack dorsey WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 05: Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey testifies during a House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing about Twitter's transparency and accountability, on Capitol Hill, on September 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. Earlier in the day, Dorsey faced questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee about how foreign operatives use their platforms in attempts to influence and manipulate public opinion. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images) — Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images

Twitter banned users from sharing two controversial New York Post articles about Hunter Biden because they violated its policies against sharing personal information and hacked materials, the company said Wednesday evening.
"We don't want to incentivize hacking by allowing Twitter to be used as distribution for possibly illegally obtained materials," the company's safety team tweeted.
CEO Jack Dorsey also said Twitter's communication about its actions Wednesday "was not great" and that blocking users from sharing the articles without any context was "unacceptable."
Twitter took actions to limit the reach of the articles after questions arose about their veracity due to the New York Post's dubious sourcing and a possible disinformation campaign.
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Twitter has expanded on its rationale for blocking users from sharing two controversial New York Post articles about Hunter Biden after questions arose about the articles' veracity.

In a tweet thread Wednesday evening, Twitter's public safety team said that the articles violated the platform's polices against sharing private and personal information as well as distributing hacked materials.

"The images contained in the articles include personal and private information — like email addresses and phone numbers — which violate our rules," the company said regarding its personal information policy.

Regarding hacked materials, Twitter said "commentary on or discussion" about such materials doesn't violate its policy, adding that it "only covers links to or images of hacked material themselves."

"We don't want to incentivize hacking by allowing Twitter to be used as distribution for possibly illegally obtained materials," Twitter said of the policy, which it has had since 2018.

—Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) October 14, 2020

Earlier on Wednesday, Twitter blocked users from linking to the stories in tweets and private messages in order to limit the spread of the articles, which purported to show a "smoking-gun email" featuring Hunter Biden communicating with a Ukrainian official about meeting with his father and Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden.

The moves came after multiple news outlets, including Business Insider, called into question the accuracy of the New York Post's reporting, citing dubious sourcing and a possible disinformation campaign. The most glaring red flags centered around whether the emails described in the story are legitimate, how they were uncovered, and how the Post obtained them.

Twitter's actions, which mirrored similar ones by Facebook aimed at "reducing the distribution" of the articles, prompted pushback from conservatives.

"I find this behavior stunning but not surprising from a platform that has censored the President of the United States," Republican Sen. Josh Hawley wrote in a letter to Twitter. (The First Amendment does not prohibit private companies from limiting speech, only the government).

"Our communication around our actions on the @nypost article was not great," Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted Wednesday evening regarding the company's response. "And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why we're blocking: unacceptable."

Sonam Sheth contributed reporting to this story.

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