Hacked Materials
Despite the fact that Joe Biden won the Presidency a year and a half ago, the Right remains obsessed with his son Hunter. Trump’s attempts to get oppo on Hunter got Trump impeached, and Rudy Giuliani’s own efforts made him a laughingstock, but the obsession remains. This week added more fuel to the fire with Trump publicly asking Russian President Putin to release any dirt related to Hunter Biden and reporting from the Washington Post corroborating some of the details from Hunter Biden’s leaked emails. (The Post also to no firm conclusion on whether the emails had been tampered with.)
Outside of Right-Wing media, it’s hard to get folks to care about Hunter Biden. And with good reason. While Hunter is currently under federal investigation, there hasn’t been much in the way of news. Even the Post’s reporting, while verifying some details including that yes, Hunter Biden was clearly trading on his family name, no crime was uncovered. You could even make the argument that the Right’s attempts to make Hunter Biden’s emails a thing have had the opposite effect on Democrats, compelling them to defend Hunter because of the Right’s overreach.
For disinformation researchers and tech companies, Hunter Biden’s emails are interesting for another reason entirely. Because you can’t call them misinformation or disinformation. Details from the emails have been confirmed, but we can’t say one way or…
