President Joe Biden's White House has been exceptionally critical of tech billionaire Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter and subsequent actions to defend and expand free speech on the platform but has had very little to say about actions taken by Apple that benefit the Chinese communist regime in its efforts to censor and suppress dissent and protests.

White House National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby was asked about that glaring disparity recently, but his response was a jumbled and contradictory mess, Breitbart reported.

Apple helped China suppress protesters

During a Wednesday interview on Fox News, Kirby told host Martha MacCallum, "Look, in general, and we’ve been clear about this all around the world, we want individual citizens, no matter what government they live under, to be able to communicate freely and openly, transparently and reliably. And we’ve made that clear with respect to Iran and we certainly continue to make that clear here with respect to China."

"Apple’s a private company, Martha, they have to make decisions and they have to speak for those decisions," he continued. "But here at the White House, here in the administration, we want to see that individual citizens -- whether they’re protesting or not, but in this case, I know that’s the context we’re talking about -- are able to communicate freely and openly."

Kirby's remarks were in reference to recent reports that Apple had limited its AirDrop feature -- which allows iPhone users to share information directly with each other through wireless connections -- but only in China, even though or perhaps because Chinese protesters had been using it to avoid having their messaging and strategizing intercepted by communist monitors.

Why criticize Twitter but not Apple?

"But why not say something to Apple?" MacCallum asked Kirby. "Because we were just told the other day that the White House is keeping an eye on Elon Musk and Twitter. So, why would you say that from the podium … and not call Apple out for helping the Chinese government to suppress their own people’s ability to communicate?"

MacCallum's question referenced remarks from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during Monday's press briefing, in which she was asked about the spread of "misinformation" on Twitter following Musk's purchase of the platform, and had replied that it was "something that we’re certainly keeping an eye on" and "monitoring."

In reply to MacCallum's question, Kirby said, "Again, I think we’ve been very clear and consistent on this. Certainly, publicly, we’ve been very open about our desires to be able to see citizens communicate. And Apple, if this is a decision that they’re making, then they should have to speak to that. But we’re not -- we can’t and we aren’t in the business of telling private companies how to execute their initiatives."

"Yeah, but Twitter’s a private company, too," the host interjected. "So, why is Twitter getting one treatment and Apple’s getting another, is my question?"

Kirby replied, "Well, those are completely two different circumstances. You’re talking about the potential for perhaps foreign investment and involvement in the management of Twitter. That’s a different issue than what we’re talking about here, which is a business decision by Apple with respect to how one of their applications is being utilized."

Free speech is dangerous and censorship is good

Of course, while the White House feigns concern over the potential for future foreign investors to wield influence over Twitter, Apple is currently and overtly bowing to the influence of a foreign regime, which MacCallum pointed out but to which Kirby had no real response.

If it wasn't clear by now, it should be obvious to all that the Biden White House doesn't care about free speech and is in favor of oppressively censoring any dissent from regime-approved narratives, whether here in America on Twitter or among Chinese protesters using Apple devices