On Monday, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, stated that Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, sharing of internal business data that confirms Twitter blocked The Post’s 2020 reporting was “unhealthy.”
According to Jean-Pierre, what is occurring is, quite frankly, unhealthy, and it will do nothing to better the lives of any Americans. Jean-Pierre closed her Monday briefing with a long condemnation of Musk’s Friday revelation that Twitter executives agreed to censor The Washington Post’s scathing exposé.
According to Jean-Pierre, the White House finds it interesting that Musk would haphazardly push this distraction. It’s “old news,” Jean-Pierre said, dismissing Musk’s argument for free speech protection.
Jean-Pierre mentioned that Twitter is facing very genuine and serious issues about the escalating level of fury, hate, and anti-Semitism on its platform and that they are allowing it to happen. The Biden’s administration failed to mention that Musk-led Twitter banned Kanye West last week for tweeting a swastika after a series of antisemitic statements or that as of Monday, the nation’s most prominent Jew-18.4 basher’s million-follower account on Facebook-owned Instagram remains live.
Jean-Pierre reiterated that Twitter owner Elon Musk presented only “old news” on the platform’s censoring of The Washington Post.
Musk authorized the publishing of internal Twitter discussions on Friday regarding the fallout of the October 2020 decision to block The Post’s story of papers linking President Biden to his family’s international business interests. In the original records, internal opposition was evident about using a “hacked materials” policy without any proof to support the assertion, and top-level executives overruled that resistance.
Musk, who also runs electric automaker Tesla and aerospace business SpaceX, acquired Twitter for $44 billion to restore free speech ideals, citing, among other instances, the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. Musk has stated that he will expose even more internal materials. Friday-night disclosure of messages that indicated “the Biden team” sent several laptop tweets to Twitter officials for deletion.
Jean-Pierre’s condemnation of Musk’s attempts toward openness came in response to queries from Fox News contributor Jacqui Heinrich.
The Fox new contributor had asked if the White House believed that choices to restrict this information before the election were made appropriately.
Jean-Pierre chastised Heinrich, saying that Heinrich misrepresented what she had stated. Jean-Pierre fumed that when she responded to the question, she had already addressed how the White House and administration saw Twitter.
Jean -Pierre added that the White House monitors the situation exactly as “you guys are reporting it.” She added that everyone is seeing what’s occurring, just as “you guys”are seeing what’s happening on Twitter. According to her, she wanted to clarify the matter as she was mischaracterized or misinterpreted. She then asked that the initial question be repeated.
Heinrich said around six days ago that the White House was actively monitoring the disinformation issue on Twitter following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company. And since this data was provided under the ‘hacked materials’ provision at Twitter, where decisions to suppress election-related information were taken. In light of what has emerged, does the White House believe that these decisions were taken appropriately?
This is about the statement Jean-Pierre stated on Wednesday that Biden administration officials are “paying attention” to reports that disinformation is circulating on Twitter due to Musk’s pro-free speech changes after the billionaire pledged to eliminate pro-Democratic bias in moderation decisions. She stated on Monday that authorities are “monitoring” Musk’s ownership.
The billionaire abolished Twitter’s COVID-19 misinformation policy last week, which allegedly led to the suspension of 11,200 accounts and the removal of around 98,000 postings, including those that questioned the efficacy and safety of vaccinations and masks.
Musk has also hinted at an amnesty for previously suspended users and reinstated former President Donald Trump’s account, which was deleted after last year’s Capitol brawl, in which Trump supporters stopped the certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory. Since his account’s recovery, Trump has not tweeted.
Musk asserts that Twitter will continue to disclose prior censoring decisions.
Twitter prohibited users from posting links to The Post’s coverage of papers describing the role Joe Biden played in his son Hunter and brother James’ business deals in Ukraine and China weeks before the 2020 election. Twitter similarly restricted access to The Post’s principal account.
Twitter’s suppression of The Post was justified by its “hacked materials” policy, despite no evidence that the content had been hacked.
Hunter Biden abandoned the laptop at a Delaware repair shop, as reported by The Washington Post, with neither the Biden campaign nor Hunter Biden disputing its authenticity.
Due to a long-held minority shareholding by a Saudi prince, Biden asked for government probes into Twitter’s acquisition by Musk on national security grounds.
Biden stated that he believes Elon Musk’s collaboration and/or technological contacts with other nations are worthy of examination. Biden said he is proposing that it’s worth looking into.
A journalist followed up with, “how?”
Biden replied, “There are several options.”
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s business Kingdom Holdings controls roughly 4% of Twitter, making it the second-largest stakeholder behind Musk.
Republicans saw it humorous that Biden would ask for an investigation of Musk’s foreign business partners. At the same time, Musk vowed to reveal Biden’s alleged participation in his family’s influence-peddling business links in China, Russia, Mexico, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.
House Republicans have said they will investigate Joe Biden’s role in his family’s international business transactions when they take control of the house.