White House dismisses the Twitter files as ‘full of old news’ and a ‘distraction’

The White House on Monday dismissed a posting of Twitter emails showing internal discussions about the suppression of stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop as “old news” and a distraction from the real issue of why the platform wasn’t doing more to address hate speech.

Conservatives have seized on the post, dubbed the “Twitter files,” as evidence that Democrats are in league with the tech giants while suppressing unflattering stories.

But press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre downplayed the impact of Elon Musk’s decision to release the information.

“We see this as an interesting… or a coincidence, if I may, that it pushed this distraction so randomly that it’s so full of old news, if you think about it, and at the same time, Twitter is facing a very difficult situation. “. Real, very serious questions about the growing volume of anger, hate, and anti-Semitism on their platform, and how they are allowing it to happen,” she said.

‘And, you know, the president said last week, more leaders need to speak up and push this back. And it is very alarming and very dangerous.

Twitter’s decision to limit the spread of a New York Post story about Hunter Biden in 2020 prompted allegations that the Joe Biden campaign was working with the social media platform to suppress unflattering stories in the weeks leading up to the election.

The files released late Friday included attempts by members of the Biden campaign and the Trump White House to get executives to review or remove the tweets.

But they focused on Twitter’s decision to suppress a New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

The story’s reach was quickly limited on Twitter and Facebook out of fears it could have been the product of a hack or a Russian disinformation attempt.

Social media platforms had been on high alert for foreign influence campaigns after Wikileaks published hacked emails from Democratic Party officials during the 2016 campaign.

Donald Trump’s allies, in particular, seized on the files to suggest that he was the victim of attempts to tilt the election against him.

Musk called the documents the “definition of election interference,” and Trump on Saturday renewed his claims of voter fraud that have been thrown out by the courts, then called for the Constitution to be suspended.

Hunter Biden greeted attendees at a White House event for Kennedy Center Honorees on Sunday. But he remained silent when asked about the release of Elon Musk’s “Twitter files” related to efforts to suppress information from his infamous laptop and the House Republican investigations into his business practices that are brewing.

The statement focused on messages between high-level figures on Twitter about the site’s removal of the infamous New York Post story.

They were posted in a Twitter thread by journalist Matt Taibbi.

They showed executives coming and going as they wrestled with the site’s pirated material rules. Several questioned whether Hunter Biden’s laptop was accessed through unscrupulous means.

Taibbi also posted screenshots showing Twitter employees complying with requests from the Biden campaign to remove certain links, a practice followed by both campaigns at the time.

The links sent by Biden’s team allegedly included nude photos of Hunter Biden that were reportedly posted without his consent. At no point does it show Biden officials asking for the story to be removed from the Post.

Republicans see an opportunity to accuse opponents of trying to suppress free speech.

Rep. James Comer, who will likely take over the House Oversight Committee when the new Congress convenes, said Twitter executives would have to answer to him.

“I can promise you this,” he told Fox News on Friday. “Every Twitter employee who participated in the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story will have the opportunity to appear before Congress and explain their actions to the American people.

‘This was a great story.’

Musk promoted the release, which he dubbed the ‘Twitter Files’. He targeted his new company for alleged collusion with the Biden campaign by leaking old company emails.

After the series of seemingly damning posts, Musk wrote: “Twitter acting on its own to suppress free speech is not a violation of the First Amendment, but rather acting on government orders to suppress free speech, without judicial review. “.