By Jemma Carr and Jennifer Smith
Former British Deputy Prime Minister Sir Nick Clegg was involved in Facebook’s decision to ‘reduce the distribution’ of a New York Post Joe Biden story, reports suggest.
The social media firm was accused of ‘acting as Joe Biden’s PR team’ by top Republicans for hushing up the story just days before the US election on November 3.
Sir Nick, who left the UK government in 2015, is now the vice-president of global affairs and communications at the social media giant.
The Post story alleges that Biden met with a Ukrainian businessman in 2015 – when the businessman was paying his son Hunter $50,000-a-month.
Months later, Biden – then the US Vice President – pressured Ukrainian officials into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the businessman, it claims.
Facebook announced on Wednesday that it had started ‘reducing distribution’ of the New York Post’s story until their army of third-party ‘fact checkers’ had vetted it.
Most of Facebook’s decisions are made by automatic software – or by moderation staff, The Daily Telegraph reports
But, for sensitive moderation issues that hold cultural or political significance, Facebook’s vice-president of content policy, vice-president of global public policy and then Sir Nick look into the case as it passes up a chain.
Only the most high-profile cases will hit Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg or COO Sheryl Sandberg’s desks.
It is not known who had the final say in the distribution of the Joe Biden story and Facebook declined to comment to the newspaper.
On Thursday, Twitter locked the account of Trump’s re-election campaign for posting the Joe Biden Ukraine story – after shutting down the White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s account over the same thing.
Conservatives on Thursday said the extraordinary move – taken just 19 days before the election – gives Biden’s campaign an unfair advantage.
On Wednesday night, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany had her account locked over the same thing.
Trump has now threatened to revoke Twitter and Facebook’s Section 230 protections – which shield them from being sued over content posted on their platforms.
Since announcing it started ‘reducing distribution’ of the story, Facebook hasn’t given any information about why it took the step, who the fact checkers are or when they will allow it to be shared again.
Twitter followed them, blocking people from posting links to the article online.
On Wednesday night, CEO Jack Dorsey apologized for the opaqueness of the decision and said it was ‘unacceptable’ that the company didn’t explain themselves sooner.
He stood by blocking it, claiming the article contains ‘private information’ which breaches Twitter’s policies.
The story alleges that Biden met with a Ukrainian businessman in 2015 when the businessman was paying his son Hunter $50,000-a-month. Months later, Biden – then the Vice President – pressured Ukrainian officials into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the businessman.
Neither Joe nor Hunter has denied the story outright. Now, many are accusing the two tech companies of playing favorites because no anti-Trump story by a legitimate news organization has ever faced such tough restrictions.
In his apology, Dorsey said there had been a lack of communication surrounding Twitter’s decision which was ‘unacceptable’ but he stands by the decision to block it.
‘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,’ he said.
He then linked to a statement from the company that said it was restricting the link because ‘personal and private information’ had been shared in the story.
It is now more clear than ever that the biden crime family/organization has many of not hundreds of tentacles extending into the deep state as well as the media culture. Suppressing damaging information the American people are entitled to know is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes. The founding father and framers knew it was possible this day might come. In their genius, they provided the American citizen with many safeguards to protect their liberty from evil doers.
The media in this Country are promoting its demise and for that they should lose their 1st amendment rights. That is right, I said it. Purposely publishing false information should result in revocation of the protection of the 1st amendment for speech in the press.
With respect to the election and the indisputable news about the biden crime family/organization, joe biden should immediately suspend his campaign for the good of the Country. There can be no other option at this point. Good people can not allow this level of corruption to continue in our government.
If joe would die before the election, or suspend thus dropping out, its over. They count the ballots and Trump remains President. Harris has no seat to ascend to, we don’t elect a corpse or a forfeited candidate to the presidency.