The Federal Election Commission (FEC) dismissed a complaint by the Republican National Committee (RNC) regarding Twitter's decision to block links to a New York Post story about Hunter Biden and incriminating files on his laptop before the 2020 presidential election.
The microblogging leader temporarily blocked member accounts from sharing the Post's story based on the incorrect assumption it was unsubstantiated. Twitter's initial decision, combined with Monday's ruling from the FEC, has reignited the backlash against Big Tech and the mainstream media for censoring reports on Joe Biden's ne'er-do-well son, as the Washington Examiner reports.
“It wasn't ‘unsubstantiated,'” conservative radio host Dana Loesch said in a tweet. “The media's catering to the Bidens is an in-kind contribution.”
Republican National Committee spokeswoman Emma Vaughn said on Monday the group was “weighing its options for appealing this disappointing decision from the FEC.” An October complaint from the RNC alleged: “Through its ad hoc, partisan oppression of media critical of Biden, [Twitter] is making illegal, corporate in-kind contributions as it provides unheard-of media services for Joe Biden's campaign.”
The New York Post report in question, published in October, said the publication received a copy of a laptop and hard drive from Rudy Giuliani that was believed to have belonged to Hunter Biden. Giuliani, a personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump at the time, claimed he obtained the hard drive from John Paul MacIsaac's computer shop in Delaware.
The store owner said he also provided a copy to the FBI after Hunter Biden left it for repairs in April 2019. Hunter Biden has not denied it was his hardware.
According to The New York Times, the FEC found that Twitter acted on behalf of valid commercial reasons, not political purposes.
Despite that, social media giants remain stuck between a proverbial rock and a hard place, with Republicans demanding equal protection for their political speech and Democrats calling for an ever-greater purge of views that don't fit their narrative.
