'Why Would We Do That?': Doocy Asks When the White House Will Delete Its Twitter Account (November 30, 2022)

Fox News’ Peter Doocy had a simple question for the Biden White House one month into Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter: “When are you guys going to delete the White House Twitter account?” “Why would we do that?” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shot back [1]. Doocy’s point: the White House had just said it was keeping an eye on the platform.

The video above shows the Nov. 30, 2022, briefing exchange in condensed form. Quotes are from the official transcript published by The American Presidency Project, which includes the parts of Jean-Pierre’s answers the clip leaves out. The Daily Caller’s report on the briefing identifies the questioner as Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy [2].

”Why Would We Do That?”

Doocy pressed the point. “Well, you’re saying that you’re keeping an eye on Twitter because it might not be a suitable platform. So why use it?” [1]

Jean-Pierre said the president “has been very — very clear in his belief” that social media companies need “to continue to take steps to reduce hate speech and misinformation.” She added that “media platforms make independent choices about their information that they present” [1].

“And so, look, I don’t have anything to share on any policy or any changes that we will be making,” she said. “We have multiple platforms, as you know, that we utilize to communicate with the American people” [1].

”Would You Try to Shut Twitter Down?”

Doocy then asked what “monitoring” meant. “When you say that you’re going to be monitoring some of the speech on there, if you see something that you don’t like, would you try to shut Twitter down?” [1]

“I hate to break it to you, Peter: Just like everybody else, we very much monitor the news,” Jean-Pierre answered. “Twitter is in the news a lot. And so that’s what we’re paying attention to” [1].

She cited concerns from the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League and public health leaders, and said she hoped “all Americans, including social media companies, civil rights organizations, as I just laid out, including Fox as well,” would agree on the need to “call out hate speech and misinformation” [1].

Where ‘Keeping an Eye’ Came From

Doocy’s question did not come out of nowhere.

Nov. 28, 2022: Asked about a Stanford researcher’s warning that Twitter could become “a vector for misinformation,” Jean-Pierre said, “this is something that we’re certainly keeping an eye on,” and “We’re all monitoring what’s — what’s currently occurring” [3].
Nov. 4, 2022: At a Democratic fundraiser in Chicago, Biden himself had gone further: “Elon Musk goes out and buys an outfit that sends and spews lies all across the world.” He added that “there’s no editors anymore in America” [4].
Nov. 9, 2022: Asked whether Musk was a threat to national security and whether the U.S. should investigate his joint acquisition of Twitter “with foreign governments, which include the Saudis,” Biden said Musk’s “cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at.” He added: “Whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate, I’m not suggesting that” [5].
Nov. 21, 2022: Asked about Musk restoring Donald Trump’s account, Jean-Pierre said, “we’re just not going to comment on Twitter — Twitter’s business practices from here” [6].

Musk had closed his $44 billion purchase of the company on Oct. 27, 2022 [7].

The Twitter Files Drop

Two days after Doocy asked his question, Musk and journalist Matt Taibbi began publishing the “Twitter Files,” internal documents on how the company’s previous management handled the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story before the 2020 election. Fox News reported that the documents showed Twitter staff “had open channels with powerful third parties, including members of both political parties, so that they could flag tweets they deemed problematic and have them ‘handled’” [8].

The Record: What the Courts and Zuckerberg Said

The question of how hard the Biden administration leaned on social media companies did not go away. It went to court.

The Fifth Circuit (Sept. 8, 2023): In Missouri v. Biden, the appeals court wrote: “We find that the White House, acting in concert with the Surgeon General’s office, likely (1) coerced the platforms to make their moderation decisions by way of intimidating messages and threats of adverse consequences, and (2) significantly encouraged the platforms’ decisions by commandeering their decision-making processes, both in violation of the First Amendment” [9].
The Supreme Court (June 26, 2024): In Murthy v. Missouri, a 6-3 majority reversed without ruling on the merits, holding that “Neither the individual nor the state plaintiffs have established Article III standing to seek an injunction against any defendant.” Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s majority opinion said many of the trial court’s factual findings “unfortunately appear to be clearly erroneous.” The case involved federal pressure on platforms over COVID-19 and election posts [10].
The dissent: Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, warned: “If the lower courts’ assessment of the voluminous record is correct, this is one of the most important free speech cases to reach this Court in years” [10].
Zuckerberg’s letter (Aug. 2024): Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that officials, including from the White House, “repeatedly pressured” Facebook for months to take down “certain COVID-19 content including humor and satire.” “I believe the government pressure was wrong and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” he wrote. The White House responded that “When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this Administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety” [11].

By the Numbers

$44 billion: what Musk paid for Twitter [7].
2 days: the gap between Doocy’s question and the first Twitter Files thread [1][8].
6-3: the Supreme Court’s vote in Murthy v. Missouri, decided on standing, not on whether the government’s conduct was lawful [10].
3: justices who said the case could be “one of the most important free speech cases” in years [10].
130 days: the limit on Musk’s 2025 role as a special government employee in the Trump administration [14].

What Happened Next

The White House never took Doocy’s advice. When Biden announced on July 21, 2024, that he was ending his re-election campaign, White House and campaign aides reportedly learned of it from his post on X, The Daily Wire reported, citing Politico [12]. By then the platform had a new name: Musk rebranded Twitter as X and replaced its bird logo in July 2023 [13].

Musk himself went from the target of Biden’s “spews lies” line to a role inside the next administration. He joined the Trump administration as a “special government employee” leading the Department of Government Efficiency, then left at the end of May 2025 when his 130-day stint ran out [14].

For more of Jean-Pierre’s answers checked against the record, see our Karine Jean-Pierre record page.