Facebook announces it is reducing the distribution of the NY Post’s Hunter Biden article

Posted at 11:39 am on October 14, 2020 by Greg Pollowitz

Andy Stone of Facebook just announced that the social media company is reducing the distribution of the New York Post’s article this morning on Huter Biden across its platform:

While I will intentionally not link to the New York Post, I want be clear that this story is eligible to be fact checked by Facebook's third-party fact checking partners. In the meantime, we are reducing its distribution on our platform.

— Andy Stone (@andymstone) October 14, 2020

Note: This is before the fact-checkers have weighed in:

Facebook spokesperson confirms that the social network is reducing the distribution of the NYPost Hunter Biden 'smoking gun' email story, while it undergoes fact checking by the company's third-party fact checkers. https://t.co/MZkwPOXwcd

— Davey Alba (@daveyalba) October 14, 2020

Dumb move, Facebook:

And there it is https://t.co/e2MDRYXHqY

— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) October 14, 2020

By the way, Stone is not what you’d call neutral in all of this:

Also worth noting the Facebook executive currently bragging about Facebook's latest move to censor stories detailing the Bidens' foreign corruption is a former Democrat congressional and campaign staffer who worked for Barbara Boxer and John Kerry. https://t.co/N8ktaqCn2J

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 14, 2020

And the White House *is* aware of this move:

🚨🚨Wait…WHAT?!?🚨🚨

This Facebook employee is actually bragging about interfering in the election AND trying to rig the outcome for Joe Biden!

This MUST be stopped. https://t.co/bTKRkWOgwH

— J. Hogan Gidley (@JHoganGidley) October 14, 2020

As is Sen. John Hawley:

So @Facebook is going to actively censor a @nypost investigative story on the Democrat candidate for president. But rest assured, Facebook is a neutral platform with no political viewpoints! https://t.co/xKnTRIWUip

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 14, 2020

It’s not going to end well for them:

Facebook, as a matter of policy, is now censoring stories detailing documented corruption by Joe Biden and Hunter Biden.

At no point did Facebook ever seek to throttle the reach of any Russian-disinformation-fueled stories falsely alleging collusion. https://t.co/N8ktaqCn2J

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 14, 2020

Even Judd Legum, who is pointing out what he says our problems with the NY Post story on Twitter, says this is “not normally how this works”:

Interesting that Facebook is throttling distribution of the article prior to third-party fact checking.

That's not normally how it works.

I've asked Facebook for an explanation and will let you know if I hear back. https://t.co/qJzq6XkKvg

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) October 14, 2020