Key takeaways:
- Twitter executives were questioned by the House Oversight Committee about their handling of a 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
- The hearing revealed that Twitter had previously changed its policy to protect former President Donald Trump from consequences for breaking the rules.
- The incident highlights the complex and often contentious relationship between social media platforms and the government.
Twitter executives faced questioning from the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday over the platform’s handling of a 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop. During the hearing, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) revealed that Twitter had previously changed its policy to protect former President Donald Trump from consequences for breaking the rules.
The hearing also addressed a 2019 exchange between Trump and model Chrissy Teigen, in which the White House requested that Twitter remove a tweet from Teigen insulting the then-President. Rep. Gerry Connelly (D-Va.) questioned Anika Collier Navaroli, a former employee of Twitter’s content moderation team, about the incident.
The hearing revealed that Twitter had made a mistake by temporarily blocking the story about President Joe Biden’s son, which Republicans suggested was part of a broader effort to protect Democrats. However, the executives denied any bias against the right, and said that the platform is committed to enforcing its rules fairly and equally.
The incident highlights the complex and often contentious relationship between social media platforms and the government. As Twitter and other platforms continue to grapple with how to handle controversial content, it is clear that the issue of content moderation will remain a hot topic of debate.
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