US President Joe Biden has said that Elon Musk had bought a social media platform Twitter that spreads lies all over the world.
Twitter laid off half its workforce on Friday, but said the cuts were smaller in the team responsible for preventing the spread of misinformation, as advertisers pulled ads amid concerns about content moderation.
And Biden at a fundraiser said: “And now what we’re all worried about: Elon Musk goes out and buys a ‘device’ that spreads lies all over the world… There are no more editors in America. There are no editors. Do we expect children to be able to understand what is at stake?”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters earlier that Biden had been clear about the need to reduce hate speech and misinformation.
“This extends to Twitter, it extends to Facebook and any other social media platform where users can spread misinformation,” she said.
Musk has promised to restore free speech, preventing Twitter from descending into a “hellscape”.
But major advertisers have expressed concern about him buying the platform for months.