'There's a difference between...': JD Vance slams journo Mehdi Hasan for likening White House ban to attack on free speech

US Vice President JD Vance and the American journalist Mehdi Hasan exchanged heated words on the internet over free speech. It all started when Hasan tagged Vance in a post on the social media platform X, which talked about the White House ban on the news agency Associated Press for not using the changed name of Gulf of Mexico. 

Taking a dig at Vance's latest remarks at the Munich Security Conference, Hasan wrote, "Hey JD Vance, I know you're busy lecturing the Europeans on free speech, but have you seen this?"

Vance replied in the comments to Hasan, describing the difference between not giving a seat to a reporter and jailing people for their views. 

"Yes dummy. I think there’s a difference between not giving a reporter a seat in the WH press briefing room and jailing people for dissenting views. The latter is a threat to free speech, the former is not. Hope that helps!" Vance wrote in his response. 

Hey @JDVance, I know you’re busy lecturing the Europeans on free speech, but have you seen this? https://t.co/jVoWE0Z5q1

At the Munich Security Conference on Friday (Feb 14), Vance called out European governments for suppressing free speech. The US VP accused EU "commissars" of suppressing free speech and blamed it for mass migration. 

The heated exchange came days after the White House blocked the Associate Press from entering the Oval Office on February 5, where US President Donald Trump signed executive orders accompanied by Elon Musk. 

It was all because the news agency did not use the name "Gulf of America" instead of "Gulf of Mexico". The agency even claimed that they were told it won't be allowed for any other future events if it did not use the changed name of the gulf.