Trump's campaign reportedly established contacts with Elon Musk's X prior to prohibiting links to manipulated data.
The document reportedly produced by Ken Klippenstein, suspected to be a product of an Iranian government-supported hacking operation, included confidential communications from a senior Trump campaign official and data the campaign had gathered on Senator JD Vance, prior to Vance being named as Trump's running mate. The publication by Klippenstein contained some of Vance's personal details, such as his residential address and part of his social security number.
Following his Substack publication of the document last month, Klippenstein disclosed that his account had been suspended for breaching the platform's rules on sharing private information. An X representative informed CNN at the time that Klippenstein had been given a temporary suspension for disseminating uncensored private personal information. However, Klippenstein subsequently shared a picture showing that his account had been permanently banned.
A source familiar with the situation informed CNN last Friday that the Trump campaign held discussions with X officials regarding the hacked materials prior to Klippenstein's ban and the blocking of links to his newsletter. The source claimed that the campaign did not instigate X officials to remove links to the materials and that X made the decision independently. X failed to respond to CNN's request for comment.
The New York Times unveiled the Trump campaign's communication with X officials in an article about Musk backing Trump's election.
Although Klippenstein's X post provided a connection to his Substack page, which in turn featured a link to the document, he did not directly disclose Vance's personal information on the social media platform. X took a strong stance to suppress the document, contrary to Meta's more nuanced approach. Meta opted to inhibit users from sharing Klippenstein's newsletter but allowed Klippenstein's Instagram and Facebook accounts to continue functioning.
A Meta spokesperson stated at the time, "Our policies do not tolerate material from hacked sources or content leaked as part of a foreign government operation to influence US elections. We will block such materials from being shared on our apps under our Community Standards."
Klippenstein was not the sole recipient of the document. In July, Politico pointed out that its journalists had received emails from an individual offering a comparable collection of private documents from inside the Trump campaign. Similarly, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported being contacted by an individual with campaign information. Ultimately, all three outlets opted not to publish the materials that were later reported to have been the outcome of a hack.
The move by X to block links to the newsletter came after Musk selectively released Twitter company documents, which he dubbed the “Twitter Files,” alleging that the US government had illegally pressured the social media company into suppressing links to a 2020 New York Post article about Hunter Biden. Company executives later stated that they regretted the decision, and Twitter's legal team later verified that the government did not engage in coercion or censorship.
Musk has characterized his 2022 acquisition of Twitter, which he later renamed X, as an endeavor to establish a so-called free digital public square and has voiced opposition to "censorship." However, the ban on Klippenstein and the suppression of all links to his newsletter in relation to the Trump campaign raise concerns about X's alleged favoritism towards Trump.
As CNN previously reported, Musk consistently employs his X platform to amplify Trump's candidacy before his 201 million followers. Musk has additionally committed tens of millions of dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC he founded to reelect Trump.
Musk recently attended a rally with Trump in Pennsylvania and informed conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson this week that he has been "trash-talking Kamala [Harris] nonstop," and that if Trump loses the election, "I'm fucked."
After the publication of the controversial document by Klippenstein on X, various media outlets like The New York Times reported on the Trump campaign's communication with X officials about the hacked materials. In the business world, Meta decided to inhibit users from sharing Klippensten's newsletter but allowed his Instagram and Facebook accounts to function, taking a more nuanced approach than X's strict censorship.
