President Joe Biden tweeted misinformation on gas prices Sunday, and Twitter users were quick to note the discrepancy between his claim and what drivers are actually paying at the pump.
Biden posted that “right now, the most common price at gas stations across the country is $3.19 per gallon. That’s progress.”
That’s also misleading and by most definitions misinformation.
Twitter users quickly realized that most pay far in excess of $3.19 for regular gas, and a quick check of AAA showed the national average for regular gas stands at $3.80 per gallon.
The new and already improved social media platform added an informational insert underneath the president’s post. It was headlined with “Readers added context they thought people might want to know.”
It continued to explain Biden’s sleight-of-hand with the figure he cited. The president actually referred to the “mode” gas price which “diminishes high gas states from the equation.”
The average price of gas is $3.80 and it’s going to go up.
It’s part of Biden’s pledge to intentionally destroy American energy. https://t.co/c2x9x9AAnU
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) November 7, 2022
And while Twitter’s additional information was not a correction, it added context to the discrepancy between the most common price and the national average.
This method, not one generally used in reporting the price of gas across the nation, resulted in a price that is above the average of 48 states. Only Georgia and Texas drivers pay less than the $3.19 price quoted by the president.
This is a relatively new phenomenon on Twitter, which prior to its acquisition by Elon Musk last month regularly angered conservatives by typically only targeting their posts for “fact-checking.”
Though technically not incorrect, referencing the “mode” or most common price is a misleading statement used by leaders at times when energy prices are high.
The price of gas has been a thorn in the side of the president since shortly after he took office. Biden from his inauguration day onward declared war on domestic energy production by ending pipeline projects and targeting leases for drilling on federal lands and waters.
More recently he has spewed criticism towards oil companies, imploring them to increase production or face new windfall profit taxes. For the record, the Energy Information Administration reports the average price of regular gas was $2.37 when Biden took office just last year.
