X blocked hacked JD Vance dossier links after the Trump campaign flagged it

2 weeks ago 9

Elon Musk heavily criticized Twitter for its similar choice to stop the spread of a Hunter Biden story.

By Wes Davis, a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020.

Oct 13, 2024, 8:41 PM UTC

Illustration of Elon Musk standing with a purple background covered in yellow stars.

The Presidential campaign of Donald Trump asked X to stop links to a story containing VP nominee JD Vance’s hacked dossier from circulating before X chose to block them, reports The New York Times. X had cited its “rules on posting unredacted private personal information” as its justification for suspending the reporter who first published the dossier in his story.

That’s a markedly different set of actions than those Musk took two years ago after criticizing Twitter’s decision to suppress a 2020 news story about Hunter Biden’s laptop. He called the choice “a violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment” and seeded internal documents related to the decision to certain journalists to report on — which doxxed people in the process.

Then again, Musk, whose record as a “free speech absolutist” is mixed at best, has been heavily involved in efforts to re-elect the former President. Trump has mused more than once about giving Musk some key role in his administration.

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