Questions continue over Biden transition team's ties to Facebook, Twitter

The campaign for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is facing a wave of backlash from its apparent ties to Big Tech companies including Facebook and Twitter — each last week censoring a New York Post story about Biden's son Hunter Biden's questionable Ukraine business dealings.

The story appears to show additional proof that Hunter Biden's deals were connected to then-Vice President Joe Biden.

Facebook and Twitter temporarily blocking or limiting the reach of the story has prompted closer scrutiny of the Biden transition team's hiring of Facebook executive Jessica Hertz, and Twitter director of public policy Carlos Monje, who also joined the Biden transition team just days before the company limited the Biden story. 

The Hill newspaper's media reporter, Joe Concha, pointed out as much when he responded to a tweet reading, "The New York Post, founded by Alexander Hamilton, is still locked out of its Twitter account for publishing a story that made Joe Biden look bad."

Concha retorted, "In a related story, Carlos Monje recently left Twitter as director of public policy to join Joe Biden's transitional team." 

Both Hertz and Monje have histories of working for Democratic politicians — including Biden and former President Barack Obama. Hertz served in the Obama administration's Office of the Vice President from 2012-2014, and Monje worked for the White House's Domestic Policy Council in that administration. 

Big Tech companies have in the past been criticized for censorship practices that may unfairly target conservative opinions and policy positions.

According to a recent New York Times story, eight members of the Biden campaign's volunteer advisory board are executives at Facebook, Apple, Google, or Amazon, the reporting of which led to some questioning over Biden's relationship with Big Tech.

"Many technology giants and their executives have not only abused their power but misled the American people, damaged our democracy and evaded any form of responsibility," a Biden campaign spokesperson told the Times. "Anyone who thinks that campaign volunteers or advisers will change Joe Biden's fundamental commitment to stopping the abuse of power and stepping up for the middle class doesn't know Joe Biden."

In response to Twitter's censoring of the Post story, several Republican lawmakers have issued a subpoena to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.