Psaki responds to Elon Musk buying Twitter by floating ‘reforms’ to combat ‘misinformation’

White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter on Monday by reiterating President Biden’s continued support for “fundamental reforms” aimed at combating the spread of “misinformation” on social media platforms.

The remarks appeared to foreshadow a potential future fight between the Biden administration and Twitter over content censorship practices.

Musk — a tech billionaire and free speech advocate — finalized a buyout of the platform on Monday following weeks of negotiations. He immediately emphasized that his goal in purchasing the company is to return it to free speech principles and end the blatant ideological censorship that has become prevalent on the platform.

Though Psaki refused to respond specifically to Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, her overarching comments made the administration’s feelings clear; that is, officials are not at all happy at the notion that Twitter will be run in an unbiased way.

“What I can tell you as a general matter, no matter who owns or runs Twitter, the president has long been concerned about the power of large social media platforms, what they … the power they have over our everyday lives, has long argued that tech platforms must be held accountable for the harms they cause,” Psaki said during Monday’s press briefing.

“He has been a strong supporter of fundamental reforms to achieve that goal, including reforms to Section 230, enacting antitrust reforms, requiring more transparency, and more, and he’s encouraged that there’s bipartisan interest in Congress,” she continued. “In terms of what hypothetical policies might happen, I’m just not going to speak to that at this point in time.” – READ MORE