Hi, I'm Dan Pramack, and welcome to Axios Recap. Today is Thursday, October 15th.

Stocks are down. COVID hospitalizations in Missouri and Wisconsin are up to record highs,

and we're focused on accusations of social media censorship.

If you've been on Twitter or Facebook today,

you might have seen discussion of a New York Post story about Joe Biden's son Hunter

and what the former vice president did or didn't know about Hunter's business dealings.

But you didn't actually see a link to that story, at least on Twitter.

In fact, if you shared it, you were temporarily

blocked. On Facebook, you could have posted about it, but the reach of that post was limited.

Why? Well, mostly because the New York Post story is based on emails allegedly obtained and

distributed by someone with access to Hunter Biden's laptop, and that could amount to an illegal

hack. Moreover, there is some evidence that at least one or more of the alleged emails

may have been manipulated based on timestamp and other metadata. Four things to know. First,

this is the first time that these platforms have ever blocked distribution

of a story by a major media outlet, which the New York Post most certainly is. Two, both platforms

do have pre-existing policies against distributing hacked materials, although it has been

selectively enforced. Three, we here at Axios, we don't know if the post story or its source documents are

legitimate.

I wish we did, but we don't.

Fourth, a lot of Republicans are livid, arguing that Facebook and Twitter are putting

their thumbs on the scales of an election that is just weeks away, basically arguing

censorship.

...