Facebook continues to stonewall journalists on the decision-making procedure that resulted in its suppression of the New york city Post’s pre-election reporting on Hunter Biden, and the role of Anna Makanju, Joe Biden’s former advisor on Ukraine policy, who held a senior content small amounts function at Facebook when the story was censored.
When Facebook made its censorship decision, less than a month before the November presidential election, its policy communications director Andy Stone required to Twitter to explain that the story had been suppressed which a “truth check” was pending.
“While I will intentionally not connect to the New York Post, I desire be clear that this story is qualified to be reality examined by Facebook’s third-party fact inspecting partners. In the meantime, we are lowering its circulation on our platform,” said Stone at the time.
United States vice-president Joe Biden (L )and his child Hunter Biden(R)go to a women’s ice hockey initial video game between United States and China at UBC Thunderbird Arena on February 14, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)”This becomes part of our basic procedure to lower the spread of
false information. We momentarily lower distribution pending fact-checker evaluation.”However the”fact-checker evaluation “never ever came.
Or, if it did, Facebook has never spoken a word about it in public. This is part of our standard procedure to lower the spread of false information. We momentarily reduce distribution pending fact-checker review. https://t.co/vf3CBvLmjj
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) October 14, 2020
Journalist Glenn Greenwald tried to protect an answer from Stone– who, as Facebook’s policy interactions director, is paid to respond to queries from journalists– however got only silence.
Exceptionally, Facebook and @andymstone— having interfered in our elections by suppressing a story that the CIA, the Intercept and other media outlets lied about by claiming it was Russia disinformation– now declines to respond to concerns about the outcome of that “fact-check.” pic.twitter.com/9Zl6s1qJiv
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 21, 2021
Greenwald asked 2 concerns of Stone, neither of which were addressed:
1) Did Facebook in fact conduct the “fact-check” on the reporting about the Biden family that Mr. Stone referenced in your October 14 tweet announcing its suppression and, if so, what was the result of it? If such a fact-check was performed, does Facebook intend to make its findings public at some point?”
2) what is your reporting relationship to Anna Makanju, if any, and did she play any function in Facebook’s decision to suppress this reporting?
The last concern associated to a senior staff member at Facebook with deep ties to Joe Biden, particularly in relation to his contacts with Ukraine, a matter at the heart of the New York Post’s reporting about Hunter Biden, which shed further light on payments from the Ukrainian gas company Burisma to the Biden boy.
Previous Vice President Joe Biden and his boy Hunter golfing in the Hamptons with Devon Archer, who served on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings with Hunter. Via Breitbart News: A 2019 short article in the Washington Postnotes
that Makanju– now in a prominentposition enabling her to steer Facebook’s content small amounts– also specifically protected Biden, her former company, from claims of misdeed with regards to Ukraine. The post keeps in mind that Makanju was Biden’s senior policy adviser for Ukraine, and that she listened
to the former Vice President’s calls with Ukrainian authorities. At the time of Facebook’s suppression of the New York Post’s reporting, Makanju functioned as the social
network’s worldwide policy manager for content policy, which would have offered her an opportunity to affect the decision. Facebook has never ever exposed whether Makanju was involved in its choice, or to what extent. Makanju herself, who Breitbart News reached out to at the time, has actually likewise stayed silent. Breitbart News has actually connected to Facebook for remark. Allum Bokhari is the senior technology reporter at
Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Fight
to Erase the Trump Motion and Steal The Election.