CNN
—
President Joe Biden on Friday known as out Elon Musk, saying the billionaire had bought a social media platform that “spews lies all the world over.”
“Elon Musk goes out and buys an outfit that spews lies all the world over,” the president stated at a Democratic fundraiser in Rosemont, Illinois, simply exterior of Chicago, in line with the pool.
“There’s no editors anymore in America,” he added.
The president’s remarks adopted information Friday that Twitter had laid off hundreds of staff throughout the corporate – a extreme spherical of value slicing that might doubtlessly upend how one of many world’s most influential platforms operates one week after it was acquired by Musk.
The acquisition was shortly adopted by experiences of a surge in racist feedback and hate speech on the platform, and several other main advertisers paused campaigns on Twitter in latest days.
White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre advised reporters earlier Friday that Biden has been “outspoken concerning the significance of social media platforms persevering with to take steps to scale back hate speech and misinformation.”
“That perception extends to Twitter, it extends to Fb and some other social media platforms the place customers can unfold misinformation,” she continued.
Shortly earlier than information of his acquisition broke final week, Musk wrote an open letter making an attempt to reassure advertisers that he doesn’t need the social community to turn out to be a “free-for-all hellscape.”
He tweeted Friday morning that Twitter has seen a “huge drop in income,” which he blamed on “activist teams pressuring advertisers,” and later addressed the layoffs tweeting that “sadly there is no such thing as a selection when the corporate is dropping over $4M/day.”
Departing staff have been provided three months of severance, he wrote.
