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Twitter locks Trump campaign account over Biden story
Summary
A look back at 15 October 2020, when a dispute over a New York Post report on Hunter Biden and Burisma spilled onto social media platforms.
What happened on 15 October 2020, after a newspaper story linked a US presidential candidate's son to a Ukrainian gas company? Twitter locked the account of President Donald Trump's campaign, citing the sharing of a person's private information without permission in connection with a controversial Hunter Biden video. The account was later unlocked.
The row began a day earlier. 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 obtained the alleged emails from Rudy Giuliani, described as a top adviser to Trump.
Also on 14 October 2020, Twitter and Facebook announced they were limiting the distribution of the article until it was fact-checked. That decision set the stage for the campaign account lock a day later.
The episode belonged to a wider set of claims linking Joe Biden and his son to Ukraine. As later described, Trump and his allies promoted several conspiracy theories connected to the 2019 Trump–Ukraine scandal, including accusations against both Bidens. One such theory sought to blame Ukraine, rather than Russia, for interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
