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White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed Wednesday night that Twitter has a “gun to my head” after she posted a link to a critical story about Joe Biden.
McEnany said Fox NewsHannity, who has been “permanently” banned from her personal account after redistributing the article, to which both Facebook and Twitter have restricted access due to concerns about its veracity.
“It is not a temporary lockdown,” Ms. McEnany said. “When I log into my Twitter account, it says that I am permanently blocked.”
As of Thursday afternoon, Ms. McEnany’s personal page was still visible on Twitter. Typically, when the social media company permanently bans a user on their site, their profile is no longer visible to the public.
When Twitter banned far-right British commentator Katie Hopkins in June this year, her page disappeared from the platform.
A Twitter spokesperson said The independent Users who violate their pirated materials policy can return to the platform after the offending tweet has been removed.
Ms McEnany went on to tell Hannity that Twitter “essentially has me at gunpoint,” before continuing to say that the social media company had ordered her to delete the post before she could get back to her account.
His dispute with Twitter is related to a story published by the New York Post on Wednesday.
The article is based on emails allegedly obtained from a laptop that Hunter Biden had allegedly left for repair at a Delaware store in April 2019.
A 2015 email suggests that Hunter Biden arranged for a senior executive at a Ukrainian energy company to meet with his father, the then vice president when he was in charge of US policy toward Ukraine.
“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving me the opportunity to meet your father and spend [sic] some time together. It is real [sic] an honor and a pleasure, ”reads the email, allegedly written by Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the Burisma board.
Hunter Biden in 2014 became a member of the Burisma board, which news reports at the time suggested was a conflict of interest given his father’s position.
Biden has said he did not discuss Burisma with his son. The email is not specific about the nature of the meeting.
Yet Republicans who have long sought to tie the vice president to their son’s business interests claim the alleged email is proof that the former vice president used his influence to help his son.
the Send claims it was a “smoking gun” email.
Both Facebook and Twitter have restricted access to the controversial story, sparking outrage among Republicans.
Twitter says that the emails cited in the article may have been obtained illegitimately, and thus the story violates its pirated materials policy.
“In accordance with our Pirated Materials Policy, as well as our approach to blocking URLs, we are taking steps to block any links or images of the material in question on Twitter,” the company said in a statement.
Facebook also placed restrictions on the piece, saying there were doubts about its validity.
“This is part of our standard process to reduce the spread of misinformation,” said Facebook spokesman Andy Stone.