Elon Musk shreds Twitter for suspending New York Post over Hunter Biden laptop story: 'Incredibly inappropriate'



Elon Musk said Twitter was wrong to suspend the New York Post from the social media network after it published a story about Hunter Biden's laptop in 2020.

Musk — who plans to privatize the company — is purchasing the big tech company at a hefty price tag of $44 billion.

What are the details?

Musk took to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon and said that the news outlet's previous suspension was "incredibly inappropriate."

He made the remarks in response to journalist Saagar Enjeti, who tweeted a report about how a top attorney for the tech company was reduced to tears while discussing the new change in ownership.

Enjeti tweeted, "Vijaya Gadde, the top censorship advocate at Twitter who famously gaslit the world on Joe Rogan's podcast and censored the Hunter Biden laptop story, is very upset about the @elonmusk takeover[.]"

The tweet accompanied a Politico story titled "Twitter's top lawyer reassures staff, cries during meeting about Musk takeover."

Musk responded, "Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate[.]"

Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate
— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1651010201

What else?

Twitter in 2020 claimed that the New York Post's article violated the company's terms on sharing hacked materials and locked the Post out of its account for approximately two weeks. There was no indication that the materials from the laptop had been hacked. According to the Post's reporting, the laptop had been voluntarily left by Hunter Biden at a computer repair shop.

Former Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey later said that the lockout was a "mistake."

"We recognize it as a mistake that we made, both in terms of the intention of the policy and also the enforcement action of not allowing people to share it publicly or privately,” Dorsey told the Senate Judiciary Committee later in 2020.

Both the New York Times and Politico have come forward in recent months to confirm items contained in the Post's original report and stated that some of the contents in the laptop have been authenticated.

A healthy fear of free speech?

Earlier on Wednesday, Musk hit out at those criticizing the purchase as free speech opponents.

He wrote, "The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all."

In a follow-up tweet, Musk added, "By 'free speech,' I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people."

By \u201cfree speech\u201d, I simply mean that which matches the law. \n\nI am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. \n\nIf people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect.\n\nTherefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.
— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1651001613

House Republicans demand answers from FBI director about Hunter Biden's hard drive after NY Post exposé



Nineteen Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter demanding answers from FBI Director Christopher Wray about whether the bureau had possession of a hard drive that led to the controversial New York Post exposé.

Catherine Herridge of CBS News posted the letter to her social media account on Friday:

READ: Letter from 19 house Republicans to Director Wray asks main questions surrounding @FBI forensic analysis of a… https://t.co/DWphsIRH5l
— Catherine Herridge (@Catherine Herridge)1602897386.0

"Yesterday, the New York Post published an article entitled, 'Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad.' The article documents how a recently uncovered laptop and hard drive allegedly revealed e-mails to and from Hunter Biden that strongly indicated that former Vice President Joe Biden was, in fact, aware of his son's overseas dealings," the letter read.

The letter went on to address the allegation that the FBI was in possession of the hard drive in 2019.

"This action took place right at the end of the U.S. House of Representative's impeachment sham against President Donald J. Trump, and right before the U.S. Senate tried the case. A large portion of the President's legal defense case revolved around strong evidence that former Vice President Biden's son, Hunter, was peddling his influence to his father to land lucrative jobs overseas that he might not have otherwise been qualified for," the letter continued.

The letter went on to call it a "gross error of judgement" and a "severe violation of trust" if the FBI had been in possession of the hard drive and had not divulged the information that was so damaging to the Biden campaign.

They demanded the FBI answer if they had possession of the hard drive, whether they had informed the White House or the Department of Justice about the hard drive, and if they had authenticated the evidence.

The lawmakers asked for an answer to their letter from Wray by Thursday.

Also on Friday, Biden snapped at a reporter who asked him to respond to the New York Post story, and instead accused him of participating in a smear campaign against him.

Here's more about the NY Post Biden report:

Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to dad | New York Postwww.youtube.com

Twitter caves and reverses policies on NY Post story ban after furious backlash



Twitter reversed course on Thursday and said that they would allow users to post a controversial New York post story damaging to the Joe Biden presidential campaign.

Twitter's head of legal, policy, trust and safety, Vijaya Gadde, tweeted Thursday evening that after much public input, they would be changing their policies to allow people to post the story and others like it.

On Wednesday Twitter clarified that they had banned the posting of the story because it included personal and private information, something that is prohibited by Twitter's terms of use. Critics of the social media giant accused it of banning the story in order to help Democrats and influence the election.

Gadde explained why they decided to change course.

"Over the last 24 hours, we've received significant feedback (from critical to supportive) about how we enforced our Hacked Materials Policy yesterday. After reflecting on this feedback, we have decided to make changes to the policy and how we enforce it," she tweeted.

Over the last 24 hours, we’ve received significant feedback (from critical to supportive) about how we enforced our… https://t.co/9vr4GU0KUp
— Vijaya Gadde (@Vijaya Gadde)1602814016.0

Gadde explained that the ban policy was implemented in 2018 but that Twitter had since then developed new tools to aid in stopping the spread of unsubstantiated reports.

"We believe that labeling Tweets and empowering people to assess content for themselves better serves the public interest and public conversation. The Hacked Material Policy is being updated to reflect these new enforcement capabilities," Gadde continued.

"So, what's changing? 1. We will no longer remove hacked content unless it is directly shared by hackers or those acting in concert with them 2. We will label Tweets to provide context instead of blocking links from being shared on Twitter," she added.

She went on to thank everyone for their input.

Some, like reporter Andrew Feinberg were critical of the decision.

"How much did the bullying from GOP senators factor into this decision," he tweeted to Gadde.

CNN analyst and former FBI agent Asha Rangappa accused Twitter of aiding foreign adversaries in spreading fake news.

Here's more about the controversial New York Post story:

Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to dad | New York Postwww.youtube.com

Trump campaign advisor says White House is looking into taking legal action against Twitter for censoring NY Post Biden story



A top advisor of the Trump 2020 campaign said that the White House was looking into what legal actions they could take against Twitter for censoring the New York Post's Biden story.

Trump Campaign senior adviser Steve Cortez made the comments to the Daily Caller on Thursday.

"The White House is very much looking into that as we speak — what can be done from the executive branch side, what can the DOJ do for example, or Department of Commerce," Cortez said.

The social media company has been besieged by criticism over their banning of a story in the New York Post that could be very damaging to the Biden presidential campaign. The Post claims that they have obtained an email that proves Biden met with an official of a Ukrainian energy company because of the machinations of his son, Hunter Biden. The former vice president had previously denied meeting with the official.

Cortez said he did not know if the president was considering issuing an executive order about Twitter's censorship.

On Wednesday, Twitter claimed in a statement that they had banned the story because it included personal and private information, which would be a violation of their terms of service.

Critics of the company claim that the censorship had more to do with protecting the Biden campaign.

Earlier on Thursday, FCC chairman Ajit Pai tweeted that he was going to release a clarification about Section 230 of the Communications Act in order to toughen restrictions on online companies like Twitter and Facebook. Many on the right have been calling for an outright repeal of the policy that would make internet companies more susceptible to legal action.

"If you get rid of Section 230, that's the end of that," said Trump in a phone interview on Fox News Business with Stuart Varney on Wednesday. "We are looking at a lot of things."

The president went on to criticize the news media and their coverage of the story. "It's out of control!" he concluded.

Here's the president's interview about Twitter:

Trump calls Twitter, Facebook the 'third arm of DNC'www.youtube.com