Former Twitter execs tell House committee that removal of Hunter Biden laptop story was a 'mistake'

[Scott]

 

Former Twitter executives told a House committee Wednesday that the social media company made a mistake in its handling of a controversial New York Post story on Hunter Biden's laptop.

The action by the social media platform just weeks before the 2020 election unleashed a wave of backlash from Republicans, who accused Twitter executives of suppressing the story to shield President Joe Biden and his family from what they say was damaging material found on a laptop hard drive belonging to the president's son.

During a hearing of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Republicans grilled the three executives about the company's decision to block users from sharing the story on the younger Biden, and suggested the social media giant acted under orders from the government when it suppressed the story.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/former-twitter-execs-house-committee-removal-hunter-biden/story?id=96979014

[JonnyF]

Absolutely shameful behaviour to try and bury the Hunter Biden laptop story right before an election. Could this have affected the election result? Yes, quite possibly.

 

Many of us pointed out what has happening at the time and were labelled "conspiracy theorists". Gaslighting of the highest order.

[Credo]

12 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Absolutely shameful behaviour to try and bury the Hunter Biden laptop story right before an election. Could this have affected the election result? Yes, quite possibly.

 

Many of us pointed out what has happening at the time and were labelled "conspiracy theorists". Gaslighting of the highest order.

Oh, you mean like when Comey reopened the investigation on Hillary right before the election?  That was gaslighting of the highest order.  

 

[JonnyF]

1 minute ago, Credo said:

Oh, you mean like when Comey reopened the investigation on Hillary right before the election?  That was gaslighting of the highest order.  

 

Completely off topic. Whataboutism of the highest order.

[Credo]

21 minutes ago, Credo said:

Oh, you mean like when Comey reopened the investigation on Hillary right before the election?  That was gaslighting of the highest order.  

 

No, actually it is not whataboutism.  The two situations are quite comparable.  

[bamnutsak]

Best part of this hearing was the discussion of the Chrissy Tiegen tweet about Trump, which Trump requested be taken down.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWh8MyG7ows

 

 

[JonnyF]

4 hours ago, Credo said:

No, actually it is not whataboutism.  The two situations are quite comparable.  

It's pretty much the exact definition of whataboutism.

 

[candide]

The GOP surely did not like this part of the hearings. It's a big fail for them.

 

"But Roth denied the accusations, telling the committee that the FBI did not tell Twitter the laptop hard drive was fake or hacked.

Twitter's former Deputy Counsel James Baker, who was fired by new Twitter CEO Elon Musk in December, also said he was not in communication with the FBI about the company's decision to suppress the article."

https://abcnews.go.com/US/former-twitter-execs-house-committee-removal-hunter-biden/story?id=96979014

[Chomper Higgot]

5 hours ago, Credo said:

No, actually it is not whataboutism.  The two situations are quite comparable.  

Agreed.

 

A more relevant example would be the  New York Post first receiving the Hunter Biden Laptop ‘story’ in December 2019 and reporting it in October 2020 as an election spoiler and the part Giuliani played in providing stolen data to the NYP. 

NYP journalist refused to have their name attached to the reporting and one NYP journalist had her name attached without her prior knowledge or agreement.

 

Sorry if this has added to your righteous outrage, but I’m sure you’ll appreciate the broader picture.

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

I see the class act Marjorie Greene was there mouthing off..................

 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., blasted Twitter executives for banning her from the site in 2022 until after she won her election in November and said she was glad the former executives lost their jobs, Greene argued the company violated her First Amendment rights by censoring her for posts about COVID-19 vaccines despite Twitter being a private company rather than a government censor.

 

“You abused the power of a large corporation – Big Tech – to censor Americans,” Greene said, “Guess what? I’m so glad that you’re censored now and I’m so glad that you’ve lost your jobs.”

Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former global head of trust and security, said Greene was banned after multiple warnings and timeouts for posting misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/08/hunter-biden-twitter-hearing/11210728002/

[JonnyF]

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Agreed.

 

A more relevant example would be the  New York Post first receiving the Hunter Biden Laptop ‘story’ in December 2019 and reporting it in October 2020 as an election spoiler and the part Giuliani played in providing stolen data to the NYP. 

NYP journalist refused to have their name attached to the reporting and one NYP journalist had her name attached without her prior knowledge or agreement.

 

Sorry if this has added to your righteous outrage, but I’m sure you’ll appreciate the broader picture.

 

 

More whataboutism ????.

 

This really was shameless election interference from Twitter. No wonder all the lefties got so upset when Musk bought it. 

[Chomper Higgot]

28 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

More whataboutism ????.

 

This really was shameless election interference from Twitter. No wonder all the lefties got so upset when Musk bought it. 

No it isn’t ‘whataboutism’ it is directly related to the issue.

 

The NYP held back the Hunter Biden Laptop ‘story’ for 10 months, releasing as a pre-election ‘shocker’.

 

Twitter held it back for 24 hours.

 

Cue rightwing outrage.

 

The ‘shameless Election Interference’ was from Murdoch’s NYP.

 

The rightwing outrage arises because Twitter interrupted the NYP attempt at election interference for 24 hours.

 

 

[JonnyF]

3 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

No it isn’t ‘whataboutism’ it is directly related to the issue.

 

The NYP held back the Hunter Biden Laptop ‘story’ for 10 months, releasing as a pre-election ‘shocker’.

 

Twitter held it back for 24 hours.

 

Cue rightwing outrage.

 

The ‘shameless Election Interference’ was from Murdoch’s NYP.

 

The rightwing outrage arises because Twitter interrupted the NYP attempt at election interference for 24 hours.

 

 

If what you claim is true, I'm sure there will be a thread about it very soon with all the usual contributors free to make whatever claims they wish without any recourse.

 

However this thread is about Twitter burying the story just before the election. So please stop deflecting. 

[Chomper Higgot]

11 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

If what you claim is true, I'm sure there will be a thread about it very soon with all the usual contributors free to make whatever claims they wish without any recourse.

 

However this thread is about Twitter burying the story just before the election. So please stop deflecting. 

The NYP ‘story’.

[candide]

12 hours ago, candide said:

The GOP surely did not like this part of the hearings. It's a big fail for them.

 

"But Roth denied the accusations, telling the committee that the FBI did not tell Twitter the laptop hard drive was fake or hacked.

Twitter's former Deputy Counsel James Baker, who was fired by new Twitter CEO Elon Musk in December, also said he was not in communication with the FBI about the company's decision to suppress the article."

https://abcnews.go.com/US/former-twitter-execs-house-committee-removal-hunter-biden/story?id=96979014

House Republicans’ Hunter Biden Probe Begins With a Thud

 

"House Republicans failed in the opening salvo of their investigation into the finances of Joe Biden’s family to produce evidence substantiating their claims that US intelligence officials worked with Twitter Inc. to suppress an unflattering 2020 news story on the president’s son."

https://news.yahoo.com/house-gop-opens-hunter-biden-103000184.html