Published 07:19 IST, October 17th 2020
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says blocking media report on Joe Biden was 'wrong'
On Saturday, October 16, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey reiterated his apology for how the tech giant handled an unverified New York Post article on Joe Biden.
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On Saturday, October 16, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey reiterated his apology for how the tech giant handled an unverified New York Post article on Joe Biden. The Twitter chief admitted that the company was wrong in blocking the weblinks to the unverified political story that alleged Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden attempted to introduce the former US Vice President to a senior executive at a Ukrainian company he worked at. A Biden campaign spokesman denied the claims.
Straight blocking of URLs was wrong, and we updated our policy and enforcement to fix. Our goal is to attempt to add context, and now we have capabilities to do that. https://t.co/ZLUw3YD887
— jack (@jack) October 16, 2020
Twitter chose to restrict the distribution of the article, citing its content policy that doesn't permit using the micro-blogging site "to directly distribute content obtained through hacking that contains private information, may put people in physical harm or danger, or contains trade secrets."
However, Twitter’s "biased" action attracted a lot of flak from people. Later, an executive at the social media company admitted to the fault following an onslaught of criticism.
Twitter will no longer remove hacked material unless it’s directly shared by hackers or those working with them, the company’s head of legal, policy, trust and safety, Vijaya Gadde, said in a thread of tweets.
Good to see: late last night, Twitter announced changes to its “Hacked Materials Policy” so that links to reporting based on hacked materials or “unauthorized” docs will no longer be banned on the platform. We updated our story to reflect these changes.https://t.co/CR3wDPsCvs pic.twitter.com/A6s26laIO9
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 16, 2020
Twitter flags Trump's tweet
Meanwhile, in another development, Twitter flagged US President Donald Trump’s tweet claiming it violated the microblogging site's rules about spreading “misleading and potentially harmful” information about COVID-19. In a tweet on Sunday, Trump claimed to be "immune" from COVID-19 which violates the site's content policy. The tweet, although with a warning, still remains accessible to those who want to read it.
Taking to Twitter, Trump claimed that he not only defeated the “crazy horrible China virus” but was also “immune” to it now. This came after his interview with Fox News, wherein Trump first made the immunity claim saying that he was “feeling good” and was ready to get out of the “basement.” The US President was diagnosed with COVID-19 on October 2, following which he underwent a three-day treatment at Walter Reed Military Hospital.
Image: AP
07:19 IST, October 17th 2020