Joe Biden criticized Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter. With three days to go before the midterm elections, the president said during a fundraiser in Rosemont (Illinois) that the businessman acquired a platform that is dedicated to "lying”:
And now what are we all worried about: Elon Musk goes out and buys an outfit that sends - that spews lies all across the world... There’s no editors anymore in America. There’s no editors. How do we expect kids to be able to understand what is at stake?
Biden's criticism was joined by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who said the president is looking to social media to reduce hate and fake news:
[Biden] has been outspoken about the importance of social media platforms, continuing to take steps 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.
Despite these comments against Twitter, neither of them have closed their accounts yet. Musk wants freedom of speech to be respected on Twitter and for accounts not to be censored or blocked on the social network.
This Friday, Elon Musk fired half of Twitter's workforce due to the millions of dollars the social network loses every day. He also assured that each laid off employee would receive a better severance payment than what is legally required:
With respect to reducing Twitter's workforce, unfortunately, there is no other option when the company is losing more than $4 million a day. All those who left were offered 3 months severance pay, which is 50% more than legally required.
