The Republican National Committee lodged a formal complaint against Twitter on Friday for throttling a New York Post story critical of Hunter Biden, arguing it amounted to an illegal contribution from a “partisan actor, run by partisan Democrats.”
The RNC is demanding the FEC investigate Twitter’s actions, arguing the social media company is engaging in “the most brazen and unprecedented act of media suppression” by blocking the story on their site.
“Through its ad hoc, partisan suppression of media critical of Biden, Respondent is making illegal, corporate in-kind contributions as it provides unheard-of media services for Joe Biden’s campaign,” the complaint reads.
On Wednesday, Twitter barred users from posting links to the Post’s story which cast doubt on Democratic nominee Joesph R. Biden’s repeated claims that he kept out of his son’s business dealings in Ukraine. Several accounts, including the personal account of White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, were locked for attempting to post the story anyway.
The company deemed the story “unsafe” and then said it violated a 2018 policy against posting stories with hacked or unauthorized material. Twitter has since reversed its decision after a wave of backlash.
The RNC also highlighted the fact Twitter allowed an article about President Trump’s taxes - “which were obtained in violation of federal law” - from the New York Times, which they argued underscored the double-standard from the social media giant.
“Twitter’s decision to censor news articles that harm Joe Biden’s candidacy is so transparently biased it would make even the governments of China or North Korea blush. Fortunately, in this country, we have tools at our disposal to fight back against this type of censorship,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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