(Updated) New York Post account locked as Twitter completely censors Hunter Biden story; users can't even send it in DMs

*Update*

New York Post business reporter Noah Manskar says that the Post's primary Twitter account has been locked after publication of a bombshell report on Hunter Biden.

According to Manskar, Twitter said the account was locked "because of the lack of authoritative reporting on where the materials in our Biden story originated."

Original Story:

After Facebook limited the distribution of the New York Post's bombshell Hunter Biden story, Twitter users are reporting an inability to share the story on the platform.

As the video from the Daily Caller's White House Correspondent Anders Hagstrom shows, an error message appears when users attempt to share the story, which Twitter has labeled as "potentially harmful."

New York Magazine contributor Yashar Ali reported the censorship, along with a statement from Twitter explaining why it is blocking the spread of the New York Post's article.

"Given the lack of authoritative reporting on the origins of the materials included in the article, we're taking action to limit the spread of this information," Twitter said in a statement shared by Ali.

"As our Hacked Material Policy states, 'we don't permit the use of our services to directly distribute content obtained through hacking that contains private information, may put people in physical harm or danger, or contains trade secrets," Twitter said.

On Wednesday, the New York Post published what the paper says is email correspondence between Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden and Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma, appearing to show Pozharskyi thanking the younger Biden for setting up a meeting with his father, who was then serving as vice president. The email, if true, would contradict claims from Biden that he's never spoken with his son about his overseas business dealings.

According to the Post, the email was contained in a "massive trove of data recovered from a laptop computer." The computer was dropped off at a repair shop in Biden's home state of Delaware in April 2019 and the owner of the shop told the Post it was never retrieved by its owner.

Nothing in the Post's story suggests the email or other material recovered from the laptop was "hacked."

Several commentators and even some lawmakers expressed shock and outrage at the steps Twitter and Facebook have taken to suppress the Post's story.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a crusader against powerful social media companies, accused Facebook and Twitter of censorship and remarked, "you almost get the idea #bigtech wants to buy this election."

In several tweets, Hawley criticized Twitter and Facebook for suppressing the story.

Hawley also sent a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey with a list of questions about how Twitter made the decision to block the Post story and whether Twitter communicated with the Biden-Harris presidential campaign before suppressing the story.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also sent a letter to Dorsey "regarding Twitter's censorship of the New York Post."

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) threatened Facebook and Twitter with legislation to regulate the social media platforms as publishers.

House Judiciary Committee Republicans tweeted the story and asked other users to share it because "The mainstream media doesn't want you to share this article."

New York Post opinion writer Sohrab Ahmari called Twitter's actions "a digital civil war."

Writer Mark Hemingway said the actions by Twitter verge into "'enemy of the people' territory," referencing President Donald Trump's frequent claim that the mainstream media and social media's bias makes them the enemy of the people.

The Dispatch's David French noted that Twitter and Facebook never censored information reported from the infamous Steele Dossier, despite many of the claims made about President Donald Trump having been false.

The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway pointed out that Twitter took no steps to limit the distribution of the New York Times' story on President Trump's taxes.

And Lee Fang, a reporter for the Intercept, also noted the discrepancy in Twitter's enforcement of this policy.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to include tweets from Sens. Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, and Josh Hawley, as well as New York Post reporter Noah Manskar.