Twitter Updates Content Moderation Policy In Response To New York Post Controversy

Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) updated its policies Thursday related to hacked materials after facing flak for limiting a New York Post story related to Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

What Happened: The social media company’s legal, policy and trust and safety lead Vijaya Gadde said that the hacked materials policy would be changed in a way that the platform would no “longer remove hacked content unless it is directly shared by hackers or those acting in concert with them.”

Gadde said the Jack Dorsey-led company would “label Tweets to provide context instead of blocking links from being shared on Twitter.”

Brandon Borrman, Twitter’s vice president of global communications, confirmed that the New York Post story — at the center of the controversy— would remain restricted on the social media platform. 

Correct, they still violate our rules against sharing personal private information as we mentioned last night.

— Brandon (@bborrman) October 16, 2020

Gadde tweeted that the changes were instituted as a result of “significant feedback” on the hacked materials policy and were being made to address concerns surrounding “unintended consequences to journalists, whistleblowers and others in ways that are contrary to Twitter’s purpose of serving the public conversation.”

Why It Matters: The limiting of the Post’s story by Twitter and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) led to accusations of political bias by members of the Republican Party.

The Post’s editor Sohrab Ansari called the actions of the social media giants as a “Big Tech information coup” and described it as a “digital civil war.”

Republicans, including President Donald Trump, called for action against Facebook and Twitter — including targeting a rule that provides social media platforms legal immunity over the content posted by third-party users on their platforms.

Price Action: Twitter shares closed almost 0.1% higher at $46.03 on Thursday.