X is currently restricting users from sharing links to a newsletter containing a document, alleged to be sourced from a hacking incident, reportedly detailing the Trump campaign’s research on vice presidential candidate JD Vance. The author of the newsletter, Ken Klippenstein, has been suspended from the platform. Searches for posts containing the link yield no results.
The document is claimed to have originated from an Iranian hack of the Trump campaign. Despite multiple news outlets receiving the leaked information, they opted not to publish it. In his newsletter, Klippenstein mentioned a source named “Robert,” who used an AOL email address and provided the document. The content revealed includes Vance’s full name, addresses, and part of his social security number.
“Ken Klippenstein has been banned by Twitter for publishing private information in contradiction of its rules,” stated KlipNews, the X account associated with the newsletter.
Previously, under its former ownership, Twitter had a specific policy addressing the publication of hacked materials, which is no longer visible on its website. A past version of this policy from 2019 prohibited the posting or linking to hacked content. During this policy’s enforcement, links to a story by The New York Post about Hunter Biden were banned. However, following controversy, Twitter amended the policy in October 2020 to stop blocking hacked materials, with then-CEO Jack Dorsey acknowledging the initial handling was incorrect.
Elon Musk, who later acquired Twitter, criticized the decision to ban links to the Post’s story, stating that suspending the account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was highly inappropriate. He allowed former Rolling Stone pundit Matt Taibbi to investigate internal documents related to the decision, though Taibbi’s publication of his findings inadvertently exposed private email addresses.
The reason for X blocking Klippenstein’s story remains unclear. Attempts by three staff members at The Verge to post links to Klippenstein’s newsletter were unsuccessful, yielding error messages indicating that the link was potentially harmful according to X or its partners. A request for comment has been sent to the company.
