The White House made an embarrassing claim this week and was forced to take it back after being fact-checked by a social media giant, sparking criticisms and mockery among the netizens.
On Monday, the White House was forced to delete a Tweet, boasting that US President Joe Biden was responsible for an increase in Social Security checks.
According to the White House, President Biden has provided senior citizens across the United States, a biggest boost in Social Security in 10 years.
“Seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years through President Biden’s leadership,” it said.
However, the tweet sparked public criticisms after it caught the attention of the internet fact-checkers who quickly pointed out that the increase is actually based on the rate of inflation and required by law.
WOAH – The White House *deleted* its tweet after Twitter placed a fact-check disclaimer on it. pic.twitter.com/1XJKnjRG5V
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) November 2, 2022
“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 adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index,” Twitter fact-checkers explained, adding a link to the relevant legislation.
The tweet caught the fact-checkers’ attention following the suggestions from the policy experts on Twitter, claiming that the White House was falsely claiming credit for something that actually happened automatically.
After the embarrassing claim, the White House deleted the post on Tuesday, prompting Biden’s critics to comment, slamming the White House while others are delighted in the confusion.
“Next year’s Social Security increase will be one of the largest in decades b/c of Biden’s disastrous policies, which have caused prices to rise, fueled record inflation, & cut it into critical retirement savings,’ New York Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney, said in a statement in response to the White House’s false claim.
Moreover, amid the controversy, an official from the White House official also released a statement and explained that the tweet was only deleted because, ‘The point was incomplete.’
The official claimed that a “fuller picture’ was outlined by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre when she previewed the forthcoming rise, suggesting it would be about $140 a month on average,” Daily Mail reporte
“For the first time in over a decade, seniors’ Medicare premiums will decrease even as their Social Security checks increase. This means that seniors will have a chance to get ahead of inflation, due to the rare combination of rising benefits and falling premiums. We will put more money in their pockets and provide them with a little extra breathing room,” she explained.
Furthermore, Jean-Pierre, during a press briefing on Wednesday, further explained the reason why the post had to be deleted.
“Look, the tweet was not complete. Usually when we put out a tweet we post it with context, and it did not have that context. So in the past we’ve pointed out that for the first time in over a decade seniors’ Medicare premiums will decrease even as their Social Security checks increase. That’s a little bit of context that was not included.” Jean-Pierre said.
According to the annotation released on Wednesday, “the record increase the tweet referred to was tied to inflation, which reached its highest point in 40 years in June.”
“Seniors will receive a large Social Security benefit increase due to the annual cost of living adjustment, which is based on the inflation rate,” the annotation explained, linking to a history of the law on the official Social Security Administration website.
The description under the annotation also declared that the “Context is written by people who use Twitter, and appears when rated helpful by others.”
