The Hunter Biden emails story and the platforms' response in October 2020
A look back at how a New York Post report on Burisma-linked emails prompted Twitter and Facebook to limit its spread.
What happened in the days leading up to 20 October 2020 to turn a newspaper report about a Ukrainian gas company into a dispute over how social platforms handle contested material?
On 14 October 2020, the New York Post reported that newly uncovered emails suggested Hunter Biden had introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas firm. The Post said it had obtained the alleged emails from Rudy Giuliani, described as a top adviser to Donald Trump.
The same day, Twitter and Facebook announced they were limiting the distribution of the article until it had been fact-checked.
On 15 October 2020, Twitter locked the Trump presidential campaign's account for sharing private information without that person's permission, in connection with a controversial Hunter Biden video. The account was later unlocked.
The episode belonged to a wider set of claims that, as described later, Donald Trump and his allies had promoted in connection with the 2019 Trump–Ukraine scandal. These included accusations against Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. By 20 October 2020, the platform restrictions and the account lock were part of the story's aftermath.
