Facebook and Twitter limit the spread of Hunter Biden Ukraine story

Social media giants clamp down on controversial story ahead of election

Facebook and Twitter have limited the spread of a controversial story on Hunter Biden’s Ukraine links.

Facebook said it would rely on fact-checking partners to decide if the New York Post is legitimate, but until then will be ‘reducing its distribution on our platform.”

"While I will intentionally not link to the New York Post, I want to be clear that this story is eligible to be fact checked by Facebook's third-party fact checking partners," said Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone.

"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.”

Facebook was joined by Twitter who flagged the story as “unsafe” as part of its new election posting rules.

Joe Biden’s campaign has ripped claims in the article that he met with an adviser to the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, while his son Hunter Biden worked for them.

“The New York Post never asked the Biden campaign about the critical elements of the story,” his campaign said in a statement.

Mr Biden’s team also attacked Rudy Giuliani for having “discredited conspiracy theories and alliance with figures connected to Russian intelligence.”

And they added that a review of Mr Biden’s official schedule proved no meeting ever took place.

Republicans have repeatedly tried and failed to find corruption on the par of Mr Biden and to link him to his son’s overseas business dealings.

Donald Trump was impeached by house Democrats in 2019 for threatening to withhold military aid to Ukraine, if the country did not investigate Hunter Biden’s employment at Burisma.

Mr Trump’s campaign accused Facebook of interfering in the election.