Twitter locked the personal account of White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday after she shared a New York Post story alleging that Hunter Biden introduced his father to a Burisma executive a year before the former vice president pushed Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor, who was investigating the company.
In a screenshot disseminated by the Trump War Room, Twitter appeared to have sent McEnany a notification that her “account has been locked” for “violating our rules against distribution of hacked materials.” McEnany’s tweet was subsequently deleted. It remains unclear if McEnany was forced to delete it, or if Twitter deleted it for her.
BREAKING: Twitter has locked the personal account of White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for sharing news Democrats don’t like. pic.twitter.com/eR8HhkgqVY
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) October 14, 2020
Not only did Twitter lock Kayleigh McEnany’s personal account but it looks like they deleted her tweet about the NY Post story.
This is insanity pic.twitter.com/BAh1FdZuod
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 14, 2020
Both Twitter and Facebook have suppressed the reach of the story, which calls into question Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s claims of ignorance regarding his son’s foreign business deals. According to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Twitter also locked the account of the New York Post itself.
.@Twitter has locked @nypost. Has Twitter ever locked the account of a major news outlet? Why is Twitter attacking the free press
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 14, 2020
President Donald Trump addressed the apparent censorship in a tweet, writing, “So terrible that Facebook and Twitter took down the story of ‘Smoking Gun’ emails related to Sleepy Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in the @NYPost. It is only the beginning for them. There is nothing worse than a corrupt politician. REPEAL SECTION 230!!!”
Section 230 is a reference to a portion of the U.S. Code that says in part, “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
Those who argue for Section 230 to be repealed argue that big tech behemoths such as Facebook and Twitter ought to be considered publishers and treated as such by the law.
So terrible that Facebook and Twitter took down the story of “Smoking Gun” emails related to Sleepy Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in the @NYPost. It is only the beginning for them. There is nothing worse than a corrupt politician. REPEAL SECTION 230!!! https://t.co/g1RJFpIVUZ
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2020
Hawley called on the FEC to investigate whether Twitter and Facebook violated campaign finance law by interfering in the dissemination of the story. As The Daily Wire reported:
After citing the relevant section of the U.S. Code, Hawley said, “Twitter and Facebook are both corporations. A ‘contribution’ includes ‘anything of value … for the purpose of influencing any election for Federal office.’”
Hawley alleged that Facebook and Twitter’s “active suppression” of the New York Post story “appears to constitute contributions under federal law,” and that the Biden campaign “derives extraordinary value” from quashing a story that would link the former vice president to Ukrainian oligarchs.
Hawley also sent letters demanding answers to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. In his letter to Dorsey, Hawley said in part, “There are various reports circulating on Twitter of users unable to post a link to the New York Post story, with some users posting responses from Twitter that the content was deemed to be ‘potentially spammy or unsafe.’”
“I find this behavior stunning but not surprising from a platform that has censored the President of the United States,” Hawley added. Later, he demanded to know the specifics of how the company decided to suppress the story, as well as if anyone involved with the Biden-Harris campaign was involved.
This article has been expanded after publication to include additional information.