[rwoodley]

Well the fact is the NY Times story is probably accurate and the NY Post story is extremely suspect.

Twitter made a journalistic decision not to spread trash, possibly from Russia, that could have a real impact on our election result. Tough call, but the right call. If twitter sees itself as having some sort of moderator role than it has to make these judgement calls.

Other outlets didn't amplify the Hunter Biden laptop story either. Even conservative outlets like the Wall Street Journal decided it was too sketchy to spread.

Twitter is trying to avoid being a platform for conspiracy theories and foreign intelligence agencies. It has to act.

[goodluckchuck]

I appreciate that it is a tough call, but being "the right call" ultimately depends on whether the merits and sourcing of the story. If it turns out that the story is true, and it didn't come from any foreign source, and stalling on the story has a real impact on our election (going other way), then I would hope that these sources would all agree that they made the wrong call... that their fear of failing to act has caused them to act when they shouldn't have.

[dsaavy]

It would maybe be more understandable if the Director of National Intelligence hadn't made the statement he did [1], which was only a few days after the incident. Why wouldn't Twitter unlock their account then?

So unless there is a huge conspiracy that you have evidence of where the DNI is straight up lying to everyone, I think it's fair to say that it's not misinformation from foreign parties.

[1] "Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Monday said Hunter Biden’s recovered laptop and emails, which purportedly show Joe Biden had involvement in his son’s foreign business dealings, are “not part of some Russian disinformation campaign.”... "He continued: “Let me be clear: the intelligence community doesn’t believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that. And we have shared no intelligence with Adam Schiff, or any member of Congress.”

https://news.yahoo.com/dni-ratcliffe-hunter-biden-emails-134...

[cycrutchfield]

Ah yes, no less of an authority than the unimpeachably qualified John Ratcliffe.

[rwoodley]

Read the wikipedia article on Ratcliffe and see if he is such a great source for your rebuttal.

But even if this is not Russia material, the NY Post story is very suspect. Even the WSJ wouldn't touch it.

Social media is a very toxic force in our society. I applaud Twitter for taking these very modest steps to correct the flow of propaganda. I'm sure Hannity and Fox are shocked that Twitter actually has a spine. They weren't expecting that.

[dsaavy]

All I'm doing is providing a quote from a government employee who is directly involved in the investigation. I don't know how else one can judge the incident other than from people directly involved in the investigation and by the contents of what has been released.

I don't see anything on Ratcliffe on Wikipedia that would make him a non-legitimate source? Could you point out what you're alluding to?

Stating that the NY Post story "is very suspect" isn't an evidence-based reason to lock their account permanently. In fact, there's a fine number of controversies around the NYT over the years, but I wouldn't support them being blocked from Twitter for any of those reasons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversies_involvin...

[rwoodley]

Well if you actually read the article and didn't find cause for concern, then I doubt a link will help, but here it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ratcliffe_(American_polit...

Here is a nice detailed account on why/how the WSJ decided not to run with the Biden narrative that Trump/Giuliani/Bannon were peddling: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/25/business/media/hunter-bid...

[rat87]

A quote from a partisan hack willing to undermine US national security to back up Trump

> Ratcliffe is well known for criticizing the FBI and the special counsel investigation as being biased against Trump. Ratcliffe has also alleged that Russian interference may have benefited Trump's 2016 rival candidate Hillary Clinton more than it benefited Trump. American intelligence agencies, the Senate Intelligence Committee and Robert Mueller have maintained that Russia interfered to help Trump. A week before Trump's announcement, Ratcliffe had argued that the special counsel investigation put Trump "below the law" because it declined to exonerate Trump. Later, Ratcliffe claimed on Fox News that the special counsel investigation's report was not written by special counsel Robert Mueller, but by "Hillary Clinton’s de facto legal team".[63][8]

Democrats asserted Ratcliffe was unqualified and too partisan to serve in such a role, which is historically considered relatively nonpartisan.[64] Some Republicans also privately expressed discontent with his selection and concerns about his ability to be confirmed.[65] However, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr and Senator John Cornyn expressed confidence in him.[66][67] Democratic senators including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Ron Wyden, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said that Ratcliffe’s only qualification for the office appeared to be "blind loyalty" to Trump, noting that he has promoted some of Trump’s conspiracy theories about the Russia investigation and has called for prosecution of Trump’s political enemies.[68][63] Several former members of the intelligence community expressed concerns that Ratcliffe's appointment risked politicizing intelligence work.[5][69] They expressed fear that with Ratcliffe as DNI, Trump would in effect be assuming personal control over the intelligence community, which would then be expected to tell him only what he wants to hear.[70] They stressed the need for intelligence to be "candid, truthful and accurate even if it is unpleasant and does not confirm to the biases of the president".[8]