Mark Zuckerberg’s latest social media platform has a new high-profile user: the President of the United States.
After Elon Musk endorsed an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory on X, his social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the White House slammed his “unacceptable” comments.
“We condemn this abhorrent propaganda of anti-Semitic and racist hatred in the strongest possible terms,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in statement in Friday.
On Monday, President Joe Biden appeared to take another step in condemning Musk’s comments: Biden joined X’s closest competitor, Threads.
“Folks, this is President Biden,” the official @POTUS account published on Nov. 20 in his first Threads post. “You’re hearing from me today from a new platform, but my message to you hasn’t changed: Right now we’re facing a turning point — one of those challenging moments in history where the decisions we make today will define decades to come.. But no I see a dark, dark, divided future for America. I see America about to take off. I will continue to do everything in my power to meet that moment – and I will keep you updated along the way.
The White House has not given an official reason why Biden chose now to join Threads, which is owned by Facebook’s parent company, Meta, and closely integrated with Instagram. threads launched in July and acquired 100 million users in just a few days, while social media fans were looking for a Musk-less Twitter alternative. The platform has was struggling to keep all those users active, but continued to grow with a dedicated user base of tens of millions.
The timing is interesting though. major advertisers they have escaped X in recent days, following the backlash from Musk’s comments surrounding the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory he promotes. Also, polls show Biden trailing behind Donald Trump among key demographics as we enter the 2024 presidential election season. One of Biden’s biggest challenges is his support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza against Hamas, which many groups such as young voters and the Democratic base do not agree.
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If the latter was one of the White House’s calculations for Biden joining Threads, it doesn’t seem to be going so well. Within minutes of Biden’s first post on the platform, responses already filled with users calling for a ceasefire and posting “Free Palestine” and other words of support for the Palestinian people.
