There’s no question that Facebook and Twitter face an extremely difficult task in trying to keep misinformation from polluting their networks, particularly now, in the weeks before the election. And doing so without upsetting either Democrats or Republicans is downright impossible. But the companies didn’t do themselves any favors in deciding to clamp down on distribution of a New York Post story about Hunter Biden.
Anyone attempting to retweet the story got a message: “We can't complete this request because this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful.” It’s not clear who it is “harmful” to other than the Biden campaign. Meanwhile, a Facebook spokesman, Andy Stone, tweeted that Facebook was “reducing” the story’s distribution on the social network while it was fact-checked. What’s next? Will Facebook “fact-check” the New York Times?
