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Days Ahead Of U.S Presidential Election, Twitter Public-Policy Director Leaves The Company To Join Biden Transition Team
Carlos Monje
Twitter's public policy director, Carlos Monje, has left the micro-blogging platform Washington to join the transition team for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Politico reported.
According to the Politico report, that is based on a source aware of the development, Monje, who currently serves as co-chair of Biden’s infrastructure policy committee, would join the Biden transition team, though it was not immediately clear what his role would be.
Monje also served as the director of the transition team that was set up by Hillary Clinton. The team was disbanded as Clinton suffered a defeat in the 2016 presidential election. He was also associated wiith Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and held positions in his administration.
As public policy director at Twitter, Monje was instrumental in magaing Twitter’s public policy and government affairs in the U.S. and Canada. Previously he worked on the company’s response to unproven allegations of interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Many conservatives believe that social media companies are biased against their views. Twitter has often been accused of partisan political platform rather than a neutral social media mico-blogging site.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has repeatedly asserted that social media platform does not subscribe to any political ideologies.
Even in India, social media companies have faced accusation of politically motivated appointments to leadership roles especially in policy related positions.
No less than the Managing Director of Facebook India Ajit Mohan admitted to a Parliamentary Committee recently that he not only earlier worked as a consultant with the Kerala Congress but also worked for the UPA-2 government in the Planning Commission and Ministry of Urban Development.
In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Manish Khanduri, Facebook's then head of news partnerships for India, joined the Congress and was immediately rewarded with a ticket from a constituency in Uttarakhand. Despite suffering a huge electoral defeat, Khanduri was elevated as the coordinator of the party’s social media unit.
Between 2014 and 2018, Head of News, Politics and Government for Twitter India was Kashmiri journalist Raheel Khurshid who was often accused of bias against the pro-BJP accounts while freely handing out the coveted ‘blue tick’ to the Leftists. When he was appointed in 2014, many had pointed out to his old posts alleging his anti-Modi, anti-Hindu and pro-Kashmir separatists stances.
When some Twitter users started exposing the political leanings of Mahima Kaul, director of Policy at Twitter India, she deleted her old tweets praising Rahul Gandhi and Congress and showing hateful comments against Modi. “Bombs, quakes, deaths are all second to Narendra Modi’s ambitions. Fuck aam aadmi,” one of her deleted tweets read.
Also Read - Ulta Chor Kotwal Ko Daante: Why Congress’ Bluff On Social Media Behemoths Needs To Be Called Out
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