Senate Republicans want to subpoena Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey after the company blocked a New York Post Story about Joe Biden. As reported by Engadget, Twitter blocked the story as it violated its rules on doxxing and hacked materials.
Twitter’s ability to crackdown on misinformation and other posts that violate its policy has grown over the past few months. A new ‘birdwatch’ feature is designed to help curb the spread of misinformation through contributors notes.
The company has also added labels to make people think twice about retweeting disputed information. All of this work has got them into trouble with politicians before with both sides criticizing the company’s handling of sensitive posts.
Senator Ted Cruz has made a video calling for Twitter CEO to be subpoenaed. He accuses the company of “actively interfering in this election”.
Twitter CEO attacked over decision to block Biden story
Senate officials will vote next week over whether to subpoena Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey over the company’s decisions to block a story about Joe Biden. Facebook has also limited the article’s spread so Republicans want answers from the company too.
Twitter claims it blocked that articles because it violated its policies. It points to the article containing “personal and private information — like email addresses and phone numbers”.
This looks like the main reason the company blocked the report. However, this has angered Republicans as they claim Twitter has interfered in the upcoming election.
Alongside the video, Ted Cruz has also sent a letter to the Twitter CEO demanding answers over the company’s decision.
Republicans have also made attempts to try and share the story whilst skirting the blocks Twitter imposed. H ouse Judiciary Committee RepublicansRep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have published the article on their websites.
They hope to share the story more broadly in order to give it the publicity they feel it deserves. The article itself claims to be a ‘smoking gun’ containing emails from Biden and Biden’s son’s laptops.
Some experts have called into question the authenticity of the report and the material contained within. Biden has also denied some the allegations made in the story.
The messy situation has led to some calls to revoke protections that internet platforms have under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
Tensions are clearly running high prior to the election in just a few weeks time. Flashpoints like this appear to be inevitable but are no less concerning social media platforms when they do occur.