The White House, President Joe Biden and his presidential campaign are launching accounts on Threads, the Meta rival to Elon Musk’s X/Twitter.
First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff are also launching Threads accounts, along with LaCasaBlanca. Topics will also see campaign accounts @joebiden and @kamalaharris.
The launch on Threads has been in the works for several weeks and there are no plans to change management’s use of X/Twitter, according to a source familiar with the decision. Launching Threads was a decision made based on its usage, the source said.
But the announcement came after the White House condemned Musk’s amplification and endorsement of an anti-Semitic post last week. This was followed by a number of advertisers suspending their spending on X/Twitter, although there were also concerns raised by a Media Matters report showing that major brands were running their ads close to pro-Nazi posts. Major media companies including Comcast, The Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros. Discovery, announced that they were pausing ads, along with other brands like Apple and IBM.
Musk has rejected claims that he is anti-Semitic, while threatening to file a lawsuit against Media Matters.
The White House’s launch of Threads could give the platform a high-profile boost. It launched last summer and initially benefited from user migration from X/Twitter following Musk’s changes to the platform. But Threads still isn’t the social media site of choice for important announcements and breaking news.
At today’s press briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre again condemned Musk’s endorsement of the post and said they would continue to make such comments.
