White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that the release of the “Twitter Files” by Elon Musk was meant to act as a “distraction” because of the rise in hate speech on the platform.
Jean-Pierre’s comments come days after Twitter’s CEO released information regarding how Twitter suppressed a New York Post exposé on Hunter Biden’s laptop, a bombshell revelation about the laptop’s contents, weeks before the 2020 Presidential election.
Musk had sent the information to Substack journalist Matt Taibi, who published the info containing communication between Twitter employees discussing the censorship in a lengthy thread.
When the social media company suppressed the New York Post’s posts about Hunter Biden’s laptop, Twitter Safety claimed the posts violated the social media platform’s “hacked materials policy.”
During a press briefing on Monday, Jean-Pierre was questioned about whether the White House believed — given what was revealed in the “Twitter Files” release — that making the information public was appropriate.
In response, Jean-Pierre queried the timing of the release, describing it as an “interesting coincidence” and accusing Musk of pushing “old news.”
The White House Press Secretary claimed that, at the same time, the company he acquired in late October faces “real” and “serious” questions regarding the levels of “hate,” “antisemitism,” and “anger” rising on the platform.
Critics of Musk’s leadership at Twitter have pointed to hate speech levels increasing under the self-described “free speech absolutist.” However, Musk has said fewer people view these posts as the algorithm suppresses them.
But a data analyst and independent researcher who has worked alongside Twitter’s Trust and Safety Team explained in a tweet on Saturday (December 3) that accounts engaging in — and being suspended because of — child abuse and exploitation material had increased under Musk’s leadership.
