The New York Post is now free to roam about the Twitterverse after a two-week clash with the social media giant over posting links to its reporting about Hunter Biden.
In a series of tweets Friday evening, Twitter Safety announced that it was updating its policy regarding how to handle content that was blocked for a policy that has since been changed — and that as a result, the New York Post’s account would no longer be restricted.
“Our policies are living documents,” Twitter wrote. “We’re willing to update and adjust them when we encounter new scenarios or receive important feedback from the public. … We will no longer restrict [the New York Post’s] account under the terms of the previous policy and they can now Tweet again.”
This means that because a specific @nypost enforcement led us to update the Hacked Materials Policy, we will no longer restrict their account under the terms of the previous policy and they can now Tweet again.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) October 30, 2020
Twitter locked the outlet out of its account on Oct. 14 for publishing and sharing stories about materials from a laptop and hard drive that were left at a computer shop in Delaware that purportedly belonged to Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Emma-Jo Morris, the New York Post’s deputy politics editor and one of the two journalists with a byline on the stories about the laptop and its hard drive, documented the timeline in a tweet.
The New York Post’s verified account marked being unlocked on Friday by tweeting,”We’re baaaaaaack,” along with a link to a report about the social media giant backing down.
We’re baaaaaaack https://t.co/D39qdLGMdV pic.twitter.com/SkVtp4o9ew
— New York Post (@nypost) October 30, 2020
In a Senate hearing on Wednesday about censorship on social media, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said that the New York Post would have to delete the tweets that violated Twitter’s policy before Twitter would unlock its account — even after Twitter allowed users to tweet links to the New York Post’s reporting that led to the outlet’s account getting locked.
“Today, right now, the New York Post is still blocked from tweeting, two weeks later,” Sen. Ted Cruz said.
“Yes, they have to log in to their account, which they can do at this minute, delete the original tweet, which fell under our original enforcement actions, and they can tweet the exact same material from the exact same article, and it would go through,” Dorsey replied.
In its Friday update, Twitter said that it would now allow users to appeal decisions made by Twitter if the policy that was violated has since been revised or retracted.
“Decisions made under policies that are subsequently changed & published can now be appealed if the account at issue is a driver of that change,” Twitter wrote. “This means that because a specific @nypost enforcement led us to update the Hacked Materials Policy, we will no longer restrict their account under the terms of the previous policy and they can now Tweet again.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Twitter for further comment and was referred to the Twitter Safety thread that announced the decision.
