Facebook to Reduce ‘Distribution’ of NY Post Story on Hunter Biden before Fact Check

Facebook will temporarily reduce distribution of the New York Post‘s Wednesday story on Hunter Biden while fact-checkers review the piece, a spokesperson for the social media giant announced.

© Dado Ruvic/Reuters Facebook logo on a smartphone screen.

Hunter Biden introduced an adviser from Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings to his father in 2015, when Joe Biden was vice president and in charge of the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy, according to an email revealed by the Post. The email was allegedly sent by the adviser, Vadym Pozharskiy, to Hunter Biden and was part of a trove of documents given to the Post by President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

The story drew skepticism from various journalists, with Kyle Griffin of MSNBC calling on reporters not to “link to or share” the Post‘s story.

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. In the meantime, we are reducing its distribution on our platform.

— Andy Stone (@andymstone) October 14, 2020

Video: Trump campaign skeptical of debate moderator's Twitter hack claims (FOX News)

“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,” Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesperson, wrote on Twitter. “In the meantime, we are reducing its distribution on our platform.”

The report on the documents provided by Giuliani has not yet been independently confirmed. However, the email from Pozharskiy would appear to contradict the former vice president’s assertion that he has not spoken with his son about foreign business dealings.

President Trump has attempted to increase scrutiny on Hunter Biden ahead of the November elections. A Senate Intelligence Committee report released in September found that Biden pursued business dealings with a number of politically-connected foreign nationals while his father was in office. In particular, the report highlighted Hunter Biden’s financial transactions with Chinese businessman Ye Jianming, who connected the vice president’s son with officials in the Chinese Communist Party

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