Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia backtracked Wednesday from comments he made Tuesday criticizing “the open press” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“The problem that we have is the open press system and basically all the platforms,” Manchin said Tuesday during a panel called “America (Un)Bound).” “So if you’re able to have five platforms, social platforms that you can basically personify the extremes, somebody who is extremely right or extremely left, and it seems like that is the majority speaking, they’re not the majority, but they’re basically driving everybody to make a decision.” 

WATCH:

Others on the panel included Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia and Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

“I totally apologize. Because it was — I didn’t explain it properly, that was the problem. The open press that we have, which is absolutely the bedrock of democracy, OK?” Manchin said during a Wednesday appearance on “Mornings with Maria” on Fox Business Network. “But there’s so much — there’s so much access. So it used to be where something was said, and it was accepted, and that was it. Now it says ” where you can find a social media platform, you can find somebody to agree with you.”

Manchin’s comments in Davos came one day before United Nations Secretary General António Gutteres called for tech companies to face “legal action” if they permitted “misinformation” to spread during a speech before WEF attendees.

A panel Tuesday called “The Clear and Present Danger of Disinformation” that included former CNN host Brian Stelter, Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger featured a prediction that the United States would pass “hate speech” laws.

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.