Marjorie Taylor Greene's Attack on Joe Biden Fact Checked by Twitter Users

Twitter users have fact-checked Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's attack on President Joe Biden that hit out at his handling of the COVID pandemic and ongoing debt ceiling negotiations.

The firebrand Georgia Republican criticized Biden's Saturday, May 13, tweet where he argued that defaulting on the debt ceiling would "erase millions of jobs," increase borrowing, and "trigger a recession."

In response, Greene tweeted that same day: "You did all of that during your communist COVID shutdowns. Don't do it again to the American people Joe.

"Come to your sense and pass our debt ceiling plan that also cuts $4.8 trillion in crazy spending. Oh, and sign E.R.2 to end the border crisis you created too."

But Twitter users were keen to add context to Greene's comments with a community notes post shared under her tweet.

The community notes did accurately tell other Twitter users that stay-at-home orders were in place during the Trump administration in 2020. These included Republican-leaning states such as Alabama, Louisiana, and Idaho.

It also noted that both Republicans and Democrats have lifted the debt ceiling during their administrations, adding: "During Donald Trump's presidency the debt increased by $8.18 trillion dollars (40%) in 4 years."

Other reports have put the increase in the national debt during the Trump presidency at $7.8 trillion.

The possibility of the U.S. failing to raise the debt ceiling led Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt to say on Saturday that it would be "absolutely devastating."

Hunt said the impact of a first-ever debt default could pose a "very serious threat to the global economy."

The community notes on Twitter did not make reference to Greene's comment about signing H.R.2, which is better known as the Secure the Border Act of 2023.

The bill, introduced on May 2 this year, calls on the Department of Homeland Security to resume construction of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border as well as limiting asylum eligibility to non-U.S. citizens and imposing additional penalties for overstaying a visa.

The Migration Policy Institute stated in 2019 there were an estimated 11,047,000 "unauthorized" people living in the U.S.

Of those, 5,313,000 were born in Mexico, 741,000 were from El Salvador and 724,000 were originally from Guatemala.

According to Twitter, community notes "aim to create a better-informed world by empowering people on Twitter to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading tweets."

Twitter launched the community notes feature following Elon Musk's takeover of the company last year.

It has since added context to numerous tweets, including one instance where Donald Trump's lack of military service was highlighted after a computer-generated image of the former president in full army gear was shared on the social media website.

Newsweek has contacted Greene's representatives for comment via email.