Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) criticized Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for the platform’s decision to block the New York Post’s stories about Hunter Biden and the decision to block the Post’s account.
Dorsey attempted to explain during the hearing that the company had made a mistake in its quick “enforcement” that blocked the sharing of the two URLs via direct messages or tweeted. However, he insisted that they had to delete their original tweets, which were against the guidelines, in order to unblock the Post’s account. This was part of the hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transport on October 28th.
“You can censor the New York Post, you can censor Politico, you can probably censor the New York Times or any other media company, Mr. Dorsey, who the hell voted you?” Cruz fired. He went on to ask why Twitter “is responsible for what the media can report, what the American people can hear, and why you continue to act as a Democratic SuperPac silencing opposing views”.
The New York Post has been suspended from their account since October 14th.
Cruz opened his questionnaire by stating that the three tech giants posed “the greatest threat to freedom of expression in America and the greatest threat to free and fair elections” at the hearing. But he focused on Twitter and asked Dorsey, “Does Twitter have the power to influence elections?”
When Dorsey mumbled, “No,” Cruz followed and said, “Why are you blocking something?”
The head of Twitter responded that the company “sees a lot of abuse and harassment, resulting in people being silenced and sometimes leaving the platform”. Cruz replied that his answers were “absurd in the face”.
When Cruz questioned the decision to block the Post, he asked why the Post was fined for the Biden stories, but the New York Times hadn’t been fined for sharing President Trump’s tax returns. Dorsey said Twitter blocked the post “because it showed the direct materials, screenshots of the direct materials, it was unclear how they were obtained.”
Cruz replied, “They weren’t hiding what they claimed to be the source.”
Later, when Cruz asked why Twitter had the ability to block media from their accounts or post certain stories, Dorsey replied, “Every user agrees to the terms of use.”
“So media have to meet and obey your regulations if they want to communicate with readers, right?” Cruz asked back. Dorsey tried to say that it wasn’t.
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