US President Joe Biden Accuses Twitter of "Spewing Lies"

US President Joe Biden Accuses Twitter of "Spewing Lies"

The Elon Musk-led social media platform has started rolling out a USD 7.99-a-month Twitter Blue subscription service. U.S. President Joe Biden is concerned that the billionaire has bought a social media platform "that spews lies all across the world."

Twitter Rolls Out USD 7.99/Month Blue Subscription

Tesla CEO and Twitter Chief Elon Musk have begun rolling out the Twitter Blue subscription service. Users on the social media platform began noticing on Friday that they could now sign up for the Twitter Blue verification for USD 7.99 a month.

"Starting today, we’re adding great new features to Twitter Blue," a notice on Twitter reads. The service is currently available in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

The notice lists three features that are "coming soon" for Twitter Blue subscribers. Firstly, the company explained that Blue subscribers will only see "half the ads" and they will be "much better ones." The social media giant detailed, "Since you’re supporting Twitter in the battle against the bots, we’re going to reward you with half the ads and make them twice as relevant." In addition, Blue subscribers can "post longer videos," and they will have "priority ranking for quality content." Twitter elaborated:

"Your content will get priority ranking in replies, mentions, and searches. This helps lower the visibility of scams, spam, and bots."

A user asked Musk when the Twitter Blue subscription service would be available in India. He replied: "Hopefully, less than a month."

Musk also revealed on Saturday:

"Twitter will soon add the ability to attach long-form text to tweets, ending the absurdity of notepad screenshots, followed by creator monetization for all forms of content."

Replying to a comment about YouTube giving creators 55% of ad revenue, Musk affirmed, "We can beat that." In another tweet, the Tesla CEO addressed the inefficiency of Twitter search. Stating: "Fixing search is a high priority."

President Biden Is Concerned About Twitter Spewing Lies

US President Joe Biden shared his concerns about Twitter on Friday after Musk took over the social media platform, Reuters reported. Twitter laid off half of its workforce on Friday, but the company said the cuts were smaller in the team in charge of preventing the spread of misinformation.

Biden was quoted as saying:

"Now what are we all worried about is that Elon Musk goes out and buys an outfit that sends—that spews lies all across the world... There are no editors anymore in America. There are no editors. How do we expect kids to be able to understand what is at stake?"

The White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, told reporters that Biden had been clear about the need to reduce hate speech and misinformation. "That belief extends to Twitter, it extends to Facebook, and any other social media platforms where users can spread misinformation," she said.

Last week, the White House deleted a tweet after Twitter added context contradicting its claim. The tweet, posted by the White House on Oct. 1, reads: "Seniors are getting the biggest increase in their social security checks in 10 years through President Biden’s leadership." It was deleted the next day after Twitter added context, pointing out that the increase was tied to a 1972 law requiring automatic increases based on the cost of living. According to a description under the annotation, "Context is written by people who use Twitter and appears when rated helpful by others."

A White House official told Politico that the tweet was deleted because "the point was incomplete." Confirming the tweet deletion, Jean-Pierre similarly stated at a press briefing on Wednesday that the statement was incomplete.