White House officials have opened accounts on the social media platform Threads, days after they condemned Elon Musk’s endorsement of antisemitic content in a post on X that provoked outrage and alienated advertisers.
Accounts were created for President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, the White House said on Monday.
A White House spokeswoman, Robyn Patterson, said the reason for the move is because “we are committed to meeting people where they are.”
“Since the beginning of the administration we’ve used traditional media, digital media, SMS programs, and other innovative ways to reach Americans as they communicate today,” Patterson said.
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre earlier Monday said she had nothing to announce when asked if the White House would leave X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Musk complained about “bogus” media reports accusing him of antisemitism after his latest post prompted criticism from both politicians and some of the world’s biggest companies. A range of advertisers also halted spending on X after a Media Matters report found that several companies ran ads on the social media platform next to pro-Nazi content.
The White House on Monday described Threads as an additional way to share the administration’s actions, and said the launch had been in motion for several weeks.
