Facebook is reducing the spread of a New York Post article alleging Hunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a Ukrainian energy executive in 2015, saying it will rely on its fact-checking partners to determine the story’s legitimacy.
“While I will intentionally not link to the New York Post, I want be clear that this story is eligible to be fact-checked by Facebook’s third-party fact-checking partners,” Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said on Twitter. “In the meantime, we are reducing its distribution on our platform.”
“This is part of our standard process to reduce the spread of misinformation. We temporarily reduce distribution pending fact-checker review.”
Joe Biden claims he has never spoken to his son about his overseas business dealings.
The article references emails and files from a laptop that purportedly belonged to Hunter Biden. The Post obtained the hard drive from Rudy Giuliani, a personal lawyer to President Donald Trump.
Giuliani’s office said it obtained the hard drive from an anonymous repair shop owner in Delaware.
Trump’s campaign accused the social media giant of “interfering” in the 2020 presidential election with its actions and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Facebook should expect a “formal inquiry” from his office.
“I want to know on what grounds you are actively censoring a news report about potentially illegal corruption by the Democrat candidate for president,” Hawley said on Twitter. “If you have evidence this is ‘disinformation’ disclose it immediately.”