The White House dismissed the release of Twitter Inc. emails about the blocking of news stories ahead of the 2020 election as a “distraction” from the rise of hate speech on the site under new owner Elon Musk.
“Look what is happening, frankly it’s not healthy, it won’t do anything to help a single American improve their lives,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday. “We see it as an interesting coincidence, and it’s a distraction.”
Musk touted last Friday’s publication of what writer Matt Taibbi said were executives’ emails, in which they debated the controversial decision to restrict access in October of 2020 to a New York Post article that contained allegations about President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. The billionaire Twitter owner has accused the company’s previous leadership team of opposing free speech, while claiming he has championed it.
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Jean-Pierre said the document trove was “full of old news” and noted it was released at the same time the social network is “facing very real and very serious questions about the rising volume of anger, hate and antisemitism on their platform, and how they’re letting it happen.”
Researchers have found that slurs against Black Americans have appeared more than twice as often on Twitter under Musk’s stewardship as they did previously and antisemitic posts have increased more than 61%, according to a New York Times report.
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The rapper Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, was suspended from Twitter last week after he posted an image of a swastika inside a Star of David. Musk said the tweet violated Twitter’s policy against inciting violence. Ye had been allowed back on the site after it restricted his account in October in response to another antisemitic tweet.
Twitter, which no longer has a communications team, didn’t respond to a request sent to a general press email.