Ex-Twitter security chief FINALLY admits censoring Hunter Biden’s laptop story was a huge mistake

The former head of trust and security at Twitter admitted that the company made a mistake in censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story.

Yoel Roth, who resigned earlier in November following Musk’s $44 billion acquisition, said the authenticity of the New York Post’s laptop story was difficult for the social media company to verify, and it was quickly censored in October 2020.

Twitter deliberately prevented users from sharing links to a front-page newspaper article about Hunter Biden’s private life and his controversial business ties with Ukraine leading up to the Election 2020 between Biden’s father and Donald Trump.

During an interview with journalist Kara Swisher, Roth said, “We didn’t know what to believe, we didn’t know what was true, there was smoke – and in the end it didn’t reach where I was for me. comfortable to remove this content from Twitter.”

But it set off every one of my finely tuned APT28 hack and leak campaign alarm bells. Everything looked like a hack and leak.’

Roth’s comments come as Musk about to release files on Twitter’s ‘suppression of free speech’ which is expected to include details about the censorship of the laptop story.

John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of the computer store where Hunter left his laptop, gave a copy of the hard drive to Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani in September 2020.

Giuliani reportedly leaked documents and photos of the ride to the New York Post, as well as giving a full copy of the ride to Trump’s former adviser Bannon and his podcast co-host Maxey.

The Post published excerpts of emails and photos from the laptop ahead of the 2020 election, but without authentication, they were widely dismissed as fake or “Russian misinformation.”

DailyMail.com eventually proved the laptop and its files to be real, and its contents became a treasure trove for outlets to report on.

Roth repeatedly claimed on Wednesday that despite the alarm bells ringing, he never believed the story should have been censored.

“So it was a mistake?” Swisher asked.

“I think so,” he replied.

Noting that social media platforms were on high alert in 2020, Twitter’s former head of trust and security said both he and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been warned by the FBI about foreign propaganda and misinformation prior to the election.

Roth is the latest to criticize the company’s decision after former CEO Jack Dorsey said it was a “total mistake” last year.

“We made a total mistake with the New York Post, and we rectified it within 24 hours,” Dorsey said during a meeting with lawmakers. “It didn’t have to do with the content, it had to do with a hacked materials policy, we had a misinterpretation.”

Both Roth and Dorsey did not say who ultimately oversaw the story’s censorship.

Chief Twit Musk has repeatedly criticized Twitter’s decision to suppress the Biden story, saying company transparency is “necessary” if the social media company is to regain public trust.

Musk announced Monday afternoon his plans to release Twitter’s files.

“The Twitter files on the suppression of freedom of expression will soon be published on Twitter itself. The public deserves to know what really happened…” he wrote.

Hours later on Monday night, Musk followed up on his comments, characterizing his plans as a struggle between freedom and “tyranny.”

“This is a battle for the future of civilization. If freedom of speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that awaits us,” he tweeted Monday night.

The laptop provided evidence of Hunter’s foreign business dealings, even linking him to illegal activities such as prostitution and serious drug use.

The scandal was widely dismissed by multiple outlets, and whistleblowers claimed that FBI agents were doing their best to obstruct investigations into the matter.

The laptop and its contents have since been verified by numerous outlets.

In April 2021, DailyMail.com published the contents of a Maryman & Associates report proving that the laptop was genuine and continued to reveal its sordid and potentially incriminating contents the following year.

Maryman & Associates used the same forensic tools used by federal and state law enforcement in criminal investigations and found a total of 103,000 text messages, 154,000 emails and more than 2,000 photos on the hard drive.