X is blocking links to an independent journalist’s newsletter which published an alleged dossier used to vet JD Vance that is believed to be part of the Iranian government’s hack on the Trump campaign.
The social media platform formerly known as Twitter – now owned by billionaire Elon Musk – also suspended Ken Klippenstein, the journalist behind the newsletter.
Now, when users enter the link to the newsletter in X’s search bar, an error flag tells users to “try searching for something else.”
When users try to post the link, an error reads: “We can’t complete this request because this link has been identified by X or our partners as being potentially harmful. Visit our help center to learn more.”
News outlets – including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Popular Information and Semafor – have declined to publish the hacked dossier and have been sitting on the papers for months.
But in a message trying to persuade new readers to subscribe to his newsletter, Klippenstein wrote: “We publish what others won’t.”
Klippenstein – a political reporter who previously worked at The Intercept, The Nation and The Daily Beast, according to his LinkedIn – said a source called “Robert” offered him the 271-page document via email.
Media outlets who declined to publish the alleged JD Vance report have said they were also contacted by a “Robert.”
The reporter was “temporarily suspended” from X “for violating our rules on posting unredacted private personal information,” X said in a post on its safety account.
The document appears to include Vance’s name, addresses and part of his social security number.
X did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.
Klippenstein’s newsletter confirmed that the reporter was banned for “publishing private information in contradiction of its rules,” KlipNews wrote in a post on X.
Before Musk bought the social media giant in 2019, Twitter prohibited posting or linking to hacked content.
When The Post reported on the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop in 2020, social media platforms blocked users from accessing the info. Twitter banned links to The Post story, citing its policy on hacked content.
But Twitter later changed that policy after it faced backlash for silencing the story – and Musk seemingly backed the decision.
“Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate,” Musk said in a post on X in April 2022.
Klippenstein’s newsletter defended its decision to link to its article – which then linked to the hacked document – on X.
It slammed other media outlets for not doing the same and accused them of playing government by “deciding what the public should and shouldn’t see,” KlipNews wrote in a post on X.
“In publishing so-called ‘private information,’ there was no act of ‘doxing,’” KlipNews said on X.
“There was no malicious intent and the principle stands, that by deleting anything, Ken Klippenstein would just affirm the government’s claim that perfectly unclassified information should be routinely withheld from the public.”