White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to weigh in specifically on news Monday that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has reached an agreement to buy Twitter in a deal valued at around $44 billion, instead calling on Congress to increase regulations on social media platforms like Twitter.
“I'm not going to comment on a specific transaction — 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 have, the power they have over our everyday lives, has long argued that tech platforms must be held accountable for the harms they cause,” Psaki told reporters at Monday’s White House 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," she continued.
Section 230 is a law that protects companies' ability to moderate content and that the White House has said in the past it is reviewing.
Monday’s deal to purchase Twitter caps off a whirlwind news cycle in which the Tesla and SpaceX CEO became one of Twitter’s largest shareholders, was offered and turned down a seat on its board and bid to buy the company — all in less than a month. It’s expected to close this year.
President Biden, Psaki added, is “encouraged” by bipartisan interest in legislating additional reforms for tech platforms, but “in terms of what hypothetical policies might happen, I’m just not going to speak to that at this point.”