Social media censorship threatens to widen rift in U.S. – Boston Herald
This week, social media giants Twitter and Facebook proved that their monopolistic malpractice is a big problem for politics and culture in America.
When the New York Post published a story about suspicious emails that had been allegedly discovered between Hunter Biden and officials at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, where he was paid tens of thousands of dollars a month to serve on the board, the revelations were remarkable.
In one alleged missive from 2015, a Burisma adviser named Vadym Pozharskyi thanked the vice presidents son for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent (sic) some time together. Its realty (sic) an honor and pleasure.
The Biden campaign has insisted that no such meeting was found to be on the official schedule, but they do not outright dispute the content of the emails or deny that an informal meeting could have occurred.
A year earlier, right after the younger Biden had been added to the companys board, Pozharskyi asked him for advice on how you could use your influence to convey a message/signal to put a stop to an investigation into the company. Later, Vice President Biden bragged he had been able to get the prosecutor fired.
The trove of correspondence was passed on to the Post by Rudy Giuliani who has been loudly trying to draw connections of corruption between interests in Ukraine and Joe Biden via his son, Hunter.
According the the New York Post, the emails were recovered from a computer that was dropped off at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved. It is not known who dropped the machine off.
What makes all this most newsworthy is that Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, has been denying that hed ever taken part in his sons business overseas or that he was even aware of what that business was.
These emails go directly to refuting that and suggest that Biden was used by his son for payment in exchange for influence.
Thus, the story ran and was distributed through social media until prominent, anti-Trump users demanded that it stop.
Kyle Griffin, an MSNBC producer with more than 900,000 followers tweeted, No one should link to or share that NY Post report. You can discuss the obvious flaws and unanswerable questions in the report without amplifying what appears to be disinformation.
Andy Stone, who works in the communications department at Facebook but has a long resume featuring jobs with various Democratic organizations was also containing the story. While I will intentionally not link to the New York Post, Stone tweeted, I want be clear that this story is eligible to be fact checked by Facebooks third-party fact checking partners. In the meantime, we are reducing its distribution on our platform.
By the afternoon, Twitter started blocking sharing of the article in any form, warning users away from the link, and locking prominent accounts that shared it, including that of the New York Post itself, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and the Trump campaign account @teamtrump.
In doing so, they turned a shady October surprise leak that would have been ignored by many in the mainstream into a major story that is reverberating through the country. What, many Americans wonder, do these massive tech companies want so badly to hide from them?
The selective censorship by social media monopolies threatens to divide our nation to a degree we have never seen before.
More here:
Social media censorship threatens to widen rift in U.S. - Boston Herald
- EFF, Open Rights Group, Big Brother Watch, and Index on Censorship Call on UK Government to Repeal Online Safety Act - Electronic Frontier Foundation - December 16th, 2025 [December 16th, 2025]
- Censor approval pending as IFFK puts 19 films, including Palestine-themed titles, on hold | Entertainment News - Hindustan Times - December 16th, 2025 [December 16th, 2025]
- Europes real censorship problem isnt what Trump claims - Index on Censorship - December 16th, 2025 [December 16th, 2025]
- Is impartiality possible when it comes to free speech? - Index on Censorship - December 16th, 2025 [December 16th, 2025]
- Union government disallows screening of 19 films at the 30th International Film Festival of Kerala - t2ONLINE - December 16th, 2025 [December 16th, 2025]
- This HIV Expert Refused To Censor Data, Then Quit the CDC - KFF Health News - December 16th, 2025 [December 16th, 2025]
- Dhurandhar Faces Regional Censorship in the Gulf but Dominates India With Massive Action-Spy Buzz - Times of India - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Censorship pure and simple: critics hit out at Trump plan to vet visitors social media - The Guardian - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Meta accused of banning LGBTQ+ accounts in one of its "biggest waves of censorship" ever - LGBTQ Nation - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Who is 2025s Tyrant of the Year? - Index on Censorship - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- YouTube and big tech censorship threatens global accountability, Palestinian rights groups say - Mondoweiss - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Elons Crying Censorship Over An EU Fine That Has Nothing To Do With Censorship - Above the Law - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Opinion | We Should Teach Our Students How to Think, Not What to Believe - The New York Times - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Donald Trump - Index on Censorship - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Vladimir Putin - Index on Censorship - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Recep Tayyip Erdoan - Index on Censorship - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada - Index on Censorship - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - Index on Censorship - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Trump Is Using the Misinformation Censorship Playbook Republicans Attacked Biden For - Reason Magazine - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- What we learned about free speech in 2025 - Good Authority - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Under the radar: Israel steps up censorship and suppression of independent reporting - Committee to Protect Journalists - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Education advocates urge Hochul to sign bill aimed at combating censorship in schools - WAMC - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- ICEBlock app sues Trump administration for censorship and 'unlawful threats' - NPR - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- OnePlus Removes AI Writing Feature After Reports of China-Focused Censorship - PCMag - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: John Lee - Index on Censorship - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Facing Criticism, Weber State Says It Will Be More Nuanced - Inside Higher Ed - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Snapshots of Censorship: The Cost of Criticizing the President - PEN America - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Meta shuts down global accounts linked to abortion advice and queer content - The Guardian - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Nayib Armando Bukele - Index on Censorship - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- LGBTQ+ and abortion organisations claim Meta is silencing their accounts in huge censorship sweep - attitude.co.uk - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Kentuckians feared the post-war world. So they burned their kids comic books - Lexington Herald Leader - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- ICE tracking app sues Trump admin for abuse of govt power, censorship; says admin pressured Apple to remove app - CNN - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Case: Even the ACLU Calls NJ Actions 'Censorship by Intimidation' - cbn.com - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Narendra Modi - Index on Censorship - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- ICEBlock Developer Sues Trump Admin Over Censorship 12/09/2025 - MediaPost - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- OnePlus temporarily disables a major AI feature following allegations of censoring sensitive geopolitical terms - PhoneArena - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Despite censorship woes and the terrifying price of RAM, 2025 was the year I fell back in love with PC gaming - GamesRadar+ - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Internet Censorship Tools Exported Along Belt and Road - The Jamestown Foundation - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- 'There's too much censorship, restrictions': Mona Singh says the kind of shows OTT streams 'would never be shown on TV' | Hindustan Times - Hindustan... - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- Cultural heritage organizations need continued funding and freedom from censorship [letter] - LancasterOnline - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- NetChoice Disappointed in 11th Circuits Ruling Allowing Florida to Enforce Its ID-for-Speech Law - NetChoice - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- David Rieff: To be truly woke, wed have to even censor the pyramids of Tenochtitlan - EL PAS English - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- In memory of Sir Tom Stoppard, a visionary dramatist and fierce champion of free expression - Index on Censorship - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- Salman Rushdie: BBC removal of Trump criticism was cowardly - UnHerd - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- A movie that drove Canadian censors wild returns to the screen - CBC - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- Posters with purpose: the analog protest calling out the censorship of womens health - Tech.eu - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- Dmitry Glukhovsky on exile, censorship and the dystopia of modern Russia - Reuters - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Police accused of censorship after officers raid Standing Together event in Haifa report - The Times of Israel - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Pop Star Googoosh on Irans Censorship, Exile and Her Fight to Perform - Newsweek - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Ali Asgari on Satire, Censorship, Absurdities Behind 'Divine Comedy' - Variety - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- How Steam censors LGBTQ+ content on behalf of the Russian Government, 27/11/2025 - Video Games Industry Memo - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- MTV Banned Madonna's 'Justify My Love' Music Video in 1985 for Being Too Racy. The Censorship Backfired Spectacularly - Yahoo - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Iranian Filmmaker Ali Asgari on Satire, Censorship and Absurdities Behind Divine Comedy: You Show How Silly and Stupid the Rules Are - IMDb - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- BBC Accused Of Censorship After Removing Claim That Trump Is Most Openly Corrupt President In History From Prestigious Radio Show - deadline.com - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Freedom of speech needs freedom of thought - Index on Censorship - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Trkiye: Political pressure, judicial harassment and censorship targets media - ARTICLE 19 - Defending freedom of expression and information. - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- On the Sweeping Supreme Court Decision That Led to Widespread High School Censorship - Literary Hub - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Valve block Steam game with queer art in Russia after state censor attacks it for promoting non-traditional sexualities - Rock Paper Shotgun - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Quebec universities warn Bill 1 could force schools to self-censor - Montreal Gazette - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- VICTORY AGAINST STATE CENSORSHIP Alternative news organization Bulatlat hails a Quezon City court decision that nullified the blocking of its website... - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- FCPS school board censorship: Definitely illegal and incredibly stupid, part 2 | Opinion - Yahoo - November 24th, 2025 [November 24th, 2025]
- YouTuber exposes the most censored and surveilled Android phones in the world - Android Authority - November 24th, 2025 [November 24th, 2025]
- Toby Young to Address Orbn-Backed Group on UK Censorship - DeSmog - November 24th, 2025 [November 24th, 2025]
- Europes Minor Protection Tightrope: How to Protect Young Users Without Censoring the Internet - Disruptive Competition Project - November 24th, 2025 [November 24th, 2025]
- Judge Declares Government Censorship Law that Caused Hundreds of Book Removals from Libraries in Missouri Unconstitutional - ACLU of Missouri - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- Trump Adds Censorship to the Campaign Against Arms Control and Disarmament - CounterPunch.org - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- Seaver Faculty Association Sends Letter on Weisman Censorship to Administrators - Pepperdine Graphic - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- NDSS 2025 THEMIS: Regulating Textual Inversion For Personalized Concept Censorship - Security Boulevard - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- Advocates Alarmed Over New Alabama Ban On Youth Access To Trans Books In Libraries - PEN America - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- Editorial Cartoon: Big Tech is censoring the reality of the war in Gaza - The Minnesota Daily - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- Tales of Berseria Remastered will be censored worldwide - Nintendo Everything - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- How Donald Trump can still censor the Epstein files - The Telegraph - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- What a Black Congresswoman Allegedly Said in Just-Released Epstein Texts That Has Republicans Demanding Her Censorship - The Root - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- UK university censors human rights research on abuses in China - FIRE | Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- Trump, Brendan Carr Threaten To Censor Some More Comedians For The Crime Of Comedy - Techdirt. - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- Internet Censorship in 2025: The Impact of Internet Restrictions - Security.org - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- Tales Of Berseria Remastered's Japanese Version Will Include The Original's Overseas Censorship - TheGamer - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- Breaking the positive feedback loop of oppressive censorship - dailycal.org - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- Franco's 36 years of authoritarian right-wing rule was marked by repression and censorship - IslanderNews.com - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- Shakespeare Makes a Fool of His Censors - The Imaginative Conservative - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]