SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Washington: US President Joe Biden has lashed out at Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to eliminate the use of independent third-party fact-checkers, describing the move as anti-American and “shameful”.
In broad-ranging remarks at the White House as he prepares to leave office this month, Biden also insisted that he could have beaten Donald Trump at the November election; admitted that new US sanctions on Russia could push up petrol prices in America; and ruled out pre-emptively pardoning himself in case Republicans, who have long questioned his son Hunter’s business links, tried to pursue him in future.
“What would I pardon myself for?” he said. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington.Credit: AP
The comments come 10 days before Trump is sworn in again as president and Biden leaves Washington after a political career spanning half a century.
The aim of the press conference was to talk up the final jobs report of his administration – 256,000 new jobs were created in December, amounting to 16.6 million jobs over his administration – which Biden said was the “most of any single presidential term in history”.
A visibly relaxed-looking president later offered to take questions from reporters and took aim at Zuckerberg’s announcement that Meta would no longer use independent fact-checkers.
Mark Zuckerberg has announced Meta will stop using independent fact-checkers on the company’s platforms.Credit: AP
Instead, the company will rely on its users, with the help of AI, to police Facebook and Instagram for false or misleading posts.
“What started as a move to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions,” Zuckerberg said in a video. “It has gone too far.”
The announcement was praised by those who see it as a win for free speech, and was met with outrage from critics who fear it will unleash a torrent of online misinformation and hateful slurs. Asked what he thought about the decision, Biden replied, “The truth matters”.
“You think it doesn’t matter that they let be printed – or that millions of people read – things that are simply not true?” he told reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
“It’s just completely contrary to everything America is about. We want to tell the truth. We haven’t always done it as a nation – but we want to tell the truth. And the idea that, you know, a billionaire can buy something and say, ‘By the way, from this point on, we’re not gonna, we’re not gonna fact check anything’ … I think it’s really shameful.”
Biden was also asked about his decision to run for re-election, and whether staying in the race for so long before making room for Vice President Kamala Harris made it easier for Trump to return to power.
Despite ongoing concerns about his age and ability to do the job, the 82-year-old did not stand down until July 21 – weeks after his disastrous debate performance prompted nonstop calls for him to make way for another Democratic candidate.
Since Harris’ resounding defeat, however, Biden has been blamed by many within his own ranks for not giving her enough time to make her case against Trump, or not giving the party enough time to find a suitable replacement.
But he rejected this. “I think I would have beaten Trump, and could have beaten Trump”, but he said he needed to unify his party.
“It was the greatest honour in my life to be president United States, but I didn’t want to be one who caused a party that wasn’t unified to lose an election, and that’s why I stepped aside.”
He added that he thought Harris could have beaten Trump. When asked if she should run again in 2028, he replied: “I think she’s competent to run again in four years, but that’ll be a decision for her to make.”
As America’s 46th president, Biden can be credited with solidifying the West’s support for Ukraine after Russia invaded the country not long after he took office.
Volodymyr Zelensky is happy with more US sanctions on Russia.Credit: AP
Earlier in the day, Biden’s administration imposed its broadest package of sanctions yet targeting Russia’s oil and gas revenues, in a bid to give Kyiv and the incoming Trump team leverage to reach a peace deal for Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X the new measures would “deliver a significant blow” to Moscow.
“The less revenue Russia earns from oil … the sooner peace will be restored,” he added.
However, while the sanctions should cost Russia billions of dollars per month if sufficiently enforced, oil prices immediately hit a three-month high on the back of the decision.
“It is probable that gas [petrol] prices could increase as much as three, four cents a gallon, but it’s going to have a more profound impact on Russia’s ability to continue to act in the way it’s acting in the conduct of war,” Biden said.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.
