Threads is following X’s lead, blocking links to purportedly leaked documents about vice presidential candidate JD Vance.
Meta says the links could come from hacked or leaked sources — and it’s blocking them because of the potential connection. The FBI and other intelligence agencies last month warned that Iran-backed hackers had sought to access information from the Trump campaign.
Purportedly hacked documents have been floating around various media outlets ever since, and while the existence of these documents has been reported, almost all outlets have refused to publish the details due to the potentially illicit way they were obtained.
Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, however, published the trove of documents on his Substack on Thursday. His account on X was quickly suspended, and some users said their accounts were locked after posting the link.
Threads is now blocking links to the post, too.
A spokesperson for Meta told Business Insider: “Our policies do not allow content from hacked sources or content leaked as part of a foreign government operation to influence US elections. We will be blocking such materials from being shared on our apps under our Community Standards.”
Threads posts that contain a link to Klippenstein’s Substack article aren’t being removed, but the link isn’t clickable. Instead, people get a popup that says: “This link can’t be opened from Threads. It might contain harmful content or be designed to steal personal information.”
In a follow-up article, Klippenstein pointed out what he said was the irony of X suspending his account since the throttling of the Hunter Biden laptop story is something Elon Musk seized on as an example of the old Twitter limiting the free exchange of ideas on the platform — something the new owner has aimed to change.
Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg has recently said he is purposely backing away from US politics and involvement in the presidential election. In a recent letter to US Sen. Jim Jordan, he wrote that he regretted that Meta made moderation concessions regarding Covid after government pressure.
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