Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified in a congressional hearing yesterday that the social media giant was wrong to have censored the Hunter Biden corruption story before the election.
“We made a quick interpretation using no other evidence that the materials in the article were obtained through hacking and according to our policy blocked them from being spread,” Dorsey testified. “Upon further consideration, we admitted this action was wrong and corrected it within 24 hours.”
But Dorsey’s apology is too little, too late. His censoring of the Biden scandal appears to have cost Trump the election.
A post-election poll from the Media Research Center, conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, shows 36 percent of Biden voters were NOT aware of the evidence linking Joe Biden to corrupt financial dealings with China through his son Hunter. Thirteen percent of these voters (or 4.6% of Biden’s total vote) say that had they known these facts, they would not have voted for the former Vice President.
Such a shift away from Biden would have meant President Trump would have won the election with 289 electoral votes.
The nationwide survey of 1,000 actual voters (including early voters) was conducted November 2-3. (PDF) Voters were asked about the bombshell reporting from the New York Post: “At the time you cast your vote for President, were you aware that evidence exists in emails, texts, eyewitness testimony and banking transactions that the FBI has been investigating since last year directly linking Joe Biden to a corrupt financial arrangement between a Chinese company with connections to the Chinese communist party and Hunter Biden’s business, which may have personally benefitted Joe Biden financially?”
While 73% of respondents said they had heard about these allegations, 27% had not — including 36% of Biden voters. Those Biden voters were then asked: “If you had been aware of this actual evidence in emails, texts, testimony and banking transactions being investigated by the FBI, would you have:”
- still voted for Joe Biden (86.9%)
- voted for a third party candidate (5.6%)
- not voted for any presidential candidate (4.7%)
- not voted at all (1.7%)
- or switched their vote to Donald Trump (1.1%).
In total, 13.1% of these voters (4.6% of Biden’s overall vote) say they would not have voted for Biden if they had been properly informed. Applying this to the most closely-contested states, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin would today all be in the Trump column, giving the President 289 electoral college votes and a second term.
Post-election, Twitter has taken to labeling tweets related to voter fraud with a warning message. During yesterday’s Senate hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz repeatedly pressured Dorsey to admit that Twitter has taken a corporate position on whether voter fraud exists, in a wider campaign to discredit the company’s labeling of tweets questioning the election results.
“Does voter fraud exist?” Cruz asked Dorsey.
“I don’t know for certain,” Dorsey replied.
“Why, then, is Twitter right now putting purported warnings on any statement about voter fraud?” Cruz shot back.
Dorsey said the company is simply connecting users to more context about claims of voter fraud. But Cruz rejected that defense, accusing Twitter of taking a “disputed” policy position despite repeated statements by the Trump administration’s own Department of Homeland Security that the election was conducted securely.
Many in the conservative space are so frustrated with Twitter’s censorship tactics, they are moving off the site in favor of the newer Parler site. Recent college graduate Alex Nette of King George, Virginia has moved to Parler, saying “It’s a place where the First Amendment is taken seriously.”
Catherine Mortensen is Vice President of Communications at Americans for Limited Government.
