Oh, the malarkey.
The newly revamped Twitter now operating under Elon Musk on Wednesday forced President Joe Biden — or rather his staff — to delete a tweet that was, it appears, spreading misinformation.
“Seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years through President Biden’s leadership,” the tweet from the official White House account said late Tuesday afternoon.
The assertion was accurate, but woefully misleading. Elon’s Twitter quickly explained why in debunking the tweet.
Twitter added an editorial note saying “Readers added context they thought people might want to know.”
The context: “Seniors will receive a large Social Security benefit increase due to the annual cost of living adjustment, which is based on the inflation rate. President Nixon in 1972 signed into law automatic benefit adjustments tied to the Consumer Price Index.”
The note then linked to the 1972 law Nixon enacted.
Seniors are getting a hefty spike in payments because inflation is running at 8 percent, and proving stubbornly immune to the interest rate hikes adopted by the Federal Reserve board.
The White House deleted the tweet on Wednesday after being called out.
This is the second time in less than a week that the new Twitter unleashed its “fact-checkers” on Biden.
On Friday, Biden tweeted: “Let me give you the facts. In 2020, 55 corporations made $40 billion. And they paid zero in federal taxes. My Inflation Reduction Act puts an end to this.”
In that case, Twitter’s team included a note for context that pointed out Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act imposed a minimum tax on companies with average pre-tax earnings of $1 billion or more.
Yet instead of 55 companies, that criterion applies to only 14 firms. Twitter added links to stories that told the truth Biden had failed to mention.
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