U.S. President Joe Biden watches his meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (not pictured) on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, California, United States, November 17, 2023.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
The White House on Monday launched accounts on The meta Chat service for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, gaining a large audience on an app that competes with Elon Musk’s X.
Accounts on Threads have also been opened for the first lady and second gentleman as well as the White House itself. Biden’s account accumulated 2 million followers within an hour of its launch.
Threads’ push comes after Musk last week called an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory “the real truth” about X to his 163 million listed followers. He also said some “Jewish communities” promote “anti-white” messages and views, denouncing the Anti-Defamation League and minorities. White House officials have repeatedly reprimanded Musk for what they called “anti-Semitic rhetoric” on X over the past week.
Several major advertisers including Apple And Disney then suspended spending on X. Musk defended himself on Sunday, without apologizing or reconsidering his statements.
“In the last week there have been hundreds of false media reports claiming that I am anti-Semitic,” he wrote on X. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Meta first launched Threads in July to compete with X, formerly Twitter, after Musk made sweeping changes to the app that were widely criticized. More than 30 million people signed up for Threads within hours of its launch. As of mid-July, there were more than 100 million registrations. Apptopia analysis firm estimated as of October, Threads had approximately 33 million daily active users in the United States
While Adam Mosseri, head of Meta’s Instagram service, previously said that Threads would not prioritize news and political discourse, many former Twitter users flocked to the app to share and keep up to date. Current news.
The White House said in a statement to CNBC that the launch of the new Threads accounts “has been in the works for several weeks.”
“We are committed to meeting people where they are,” the statement said. “Since the start of the administration, we have used traditional media, digital media, SMS programs and other innovative ways to reach Americans as they communicate today.”
Here’s what Biden said in his first Threads post:
“My friends, this is President Biden. You are hearing me today from a new platform, but my message to you has not changed: Right now, we face an inflection point – one of those difficult times in history where the decisions we make today will determine the decades to come. But I don’t see a dark, gloomy, divided future for America. I see an America on the verge of taking off. I will continue to do everything in my power to respond to this moment – and keep you updated along the way.”
WATCH: President Biden could become very aggressive towards China
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