Facebook limited the scope of the story while it tried to look into the veracity of the report. Twitter went a step further, blocking the New York Post account and blocking users from posting links to the story over concerns it was based on hacked material.
The actions prompted a wave of backlash from Republicans, who accused tech platforms of suppressing material to protect Biden, which continues to fuel attacks in Silicon Valley.
Between new ones reporting by The Washington Postby verifying the authenticity of thousands of emails purportedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop and the New York Times, which authenticated several cached messages, the social media giants are facing new scrutiny.
On Wednesday, my colleagues Craig Timberg, Matt Shows AND Tom Hamburger wrote that “thousands of emails purportedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop” are “authentic communications that can be verified through cryptographic signatures from Google and other technology companies,” based on an analysis by two security experts for The Post.
According to the report, “none of the experts reported finding evidence that individual emails or other files had been tampered with by the hackers, but none were able to rule out the possibility.”
Republicans have seized on the laptop as evidence of wrongdoing, while Democrats have suggested it could have been manipulated to include foreign disinformation. Ultimately, my colleagues write, the forensic analysis is unlikely to settle that debate, given that the verdict on much of the alleged laptop data remains inconclusive.
But the findings highlight the fact that tech companies appear to have acted forcefully and preemptively against a perceived threat that has so far not been publicly substantiated. Twitter and Facebook declined to comment on the new findings.
The findings are also reigniting broader debates within civil society about where social media’s obligations to curb suspected misinformation begin and end.
A crucial question is what role, if any, should they play in restricting articles from mainstream news outlets, especially when dealing with unverified or questionable sources?
“A company like Twitter shouldn’t be trying to decide the veracity of information when it’s impossible for them to have the kind of information they would need to do so.” Evan Greerdirector of digital activist group Fight for the Future, told The Technology 202.
Across Twitter and Facebook in 2020 there was widespread fear of a repeat of the events of 2016, when Russian hackers leaked trophy by email by Democratic officials.
Former head of security at Facebook Alex Stamos said to my colleague Shall we pray? that, in retrospect, the platforms “overreacted” against the New York Post’s coverage of Hunter Biden, but he understood why.
“The most effective Russian operation” in 2016 was the leak of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, and “this smelled like the same playbook,” he said Wednesday.
Stamos said the companies were in a “no-win situation,” likely facing accusations of censorship if they restricted the article or criticism for amplifying potential misinformation if they allowed it to spread.
A host of former intelligence officials expressed skepticism at the time about the veracity of the New York Post article and warned that it could be Russian disinformation.
Twitter, which took more aggressive action, took most of the heat in Washington.
While the company reversed its initial decision that article violated its policies against hacked material, he proceeded to block users from his post under a special rule against publishing private user information. Twitter reversed course again, saying it would allow users to share the link because the information was widely available in publications beyond the New York Post.
Ultimately, the episode highlights the risks social media platforms take when deciding whether to restrict content where the risk of harm is unclear.
“This latest analysis shows how complex and difficult it can be to verify the authenticity of digital documents or files, regardless of how they were obtained,” Greer said. “This is true whether the material is allegedly hacked or simply given to a journalist from a ready source.”
Democrats are closer to taking the FTC majority
DEMOCRAT Alvaro BedoyaThe Federal Trade Commission nomination cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday, moving the party one step closer to regaining a majority at the agency.
The full chamber voted to dismiss Bedoya’s nomination from the Senate Commerce Committee, which had split along party lines over the nominee’s advancement earlier this month. The motion installs the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) in a position to soon schedule a vote to confirm Bedoya, whose nomination has been blocked by Republican opposition since September.
The expected addition of Bedoya, a well-known privacy researcher and surveillance critic, is poised to enable the agency’s Democratic leadership to pursue more aggressive enforcement measures against the technology sector.
Apple and Meta shared user data with hackers posing as law enforcement
Apple and Facebook parent company Meta gave “customer address, phone number and IP address” to hackers masquerading as law enforcement officials, Bloomberg William Turton reports, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.
“Cybersecurity researchers suspect that some of the hackers sending the fake requests are minors based in the UK and the U.S. One of the minors is also believed to be the mastermind of the Lapsus$ cybercrime group, which hacked Microsoft Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and Nvidia Corp., among others,” according to the report.
Meta’s spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement that the company reviews “each data request for legal sufficiency and uses advanced systems and processes to validate law enforcement requests and detect abuses.” An Apple representative referred Bloomberg News to part of its law enforcement guidelines.
Both Google and Amazon Funded ‘Grassroots’ Activist Group of Small Business Owners to Lobby Against Big Tech Oversight (CNBC)
The Silenced No More Act Just Became Law in Washington State (Protocol)
Like China’s TikTok, Facebook influencers push propaganda
Spam texts from your number? “Bad actors” sent them, Verizon says. (New York Times)
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