Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

The Federal Election Commission has reportedly decided to dismiss the complaint filed by the Republican National Committee that alleged Twitter suppressed the New York Post's articles on Hunter Biden's business dealings.

America’s high-tech tyranny is far more sophisticated than Putin’s crude autocracy

The US Federal Election Commission decreed that there was nothing untoward about Twitter’s decision to censor a story in The New York Post newspaper in October detailing Hunter Biden’s corrupt dealings.

On Monday, the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation dismissed a complaint lodged by local pro-democracy activists concerning the government’s decision to censor a news story on corruption in the Putin clan just ahead of the 2018 presidential election in the autocratic nation.

Published in the reformist newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the story ­had detailed how the Russian strongman’s daughter Katerina helped arrange meetings ­between a German appliances ­giant seeking market share in Russia and her ­father while he served as prime minister in 2011.

Soon after the story’s ­appearance, the popular Russian social-media platform VK moved to ban it, going so far as to prevent Russian users from sharing it in direct messages and suspending Novaya Gazeta’s ­account for weeks. Senior members of the Russian security apparatus denounced the story as “US misinformation,” though they admitted they had no direct evidence of American involvement.

The election commission’s decision, made last month behind closed doors and set to become public soon, concluded that VK had “credibly explained” that blocking the article’s distribution was a merely “commercial decision,” and that the move followed existing policies related to hacked materials, according to “factual and legal analysis.”

The commission’s decision was first leaked to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the government-owned daily, which promptly labeled Novaya Gazeta’s reporting as ­“unsub­stantiated.” Soon, other Kremlin-linked outlet echoed this characterization, in what Western observers ­decried as a blatant attempt to discredit reporting seen as highly damaging to Putin and others in his oligarchic circles. . . .

Wait. Justing kidding — none of that happened. Or rather, a fact pattern nearly identical to the one above did take place. It’s just that it transpired right here in the United States — in our “Atlantic fortress of liberty,” as Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn called it — and not in a cold and distant land Americans associate with ruthless dictators and corrupt oligarchs and their well-connected children.

Here’s what actually took place: On Monday, the US Federal Election Commission decreed that there was nothing untoward about Twitter’s decision to censor a story in this newspaper in October detailing Hunter Biden’s corrupt dealings, including his arranging a 2015 meeting between his father, then the second-most powerful man in the world and the Obama administration’s point man on Ukraine, and Burisma, a shady Ukrainian energy firm that was paying the illustrious vice-presidential son some $83,000 a month for, umm, his expertise in Eastern-European energy affairs, no doubt.

The FEC, it seems, has concluded that Twitter’s decision was a purely “commercial” one, having to do with the tech giant’s policy against publishing “hacked materials,” according to an outline of its ruling obtained by The New York Times (most likely thanks to a leak by a left-leaning member of the FEC staff).

The decision, and the Times ­report announcing it, are a tangle of lies: No, the Hunter story wasn’t based on hacked materials: The Post was clear all along how it obtained the laptop material. And it bears ­repeating for the thousandth time: Neither Hunter nor his father has disputed the authenticity of the e-mails obtained by The Post. Hunter has even suggested the laptop “could be” his. The Post story is emphatically not “unsubstantiated.”

But this is America in 2021. We Americans live under a regime. In a technical sense, all peoples live under regimes, every nation has an organized political order. But I use the term “regime” in the menacing sense usually applied by American liberals to places like, well, Putin’s Russia.

Only, our regime is far more sophisticated than Putin’s crude autocracy. It exerts its tyranny through private actors: Silicon Valley workers, Times reporters. The regime has acquitted itself.

Sohrab Ahmari is The Post’s op-ed editor and author, most recently, of “The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
×