Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says senior Biden administration officials pressured Facebook to “censor” some COVID-19 content during the pandemic and vowed the social media giant would push back if it faced such demands again.
In a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the judiciary committee of the House of Representatives, Zuckerberg alleges the officials, including those from the White House, “repeatedly pressured” Facebook for months to take down “certain COVID-19 content including humour and satire.”
The officials “expressed a lot of frustration” when the company didn’t agree, he said in the letter.
“I believe the government pressure was wrong and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote in the letter dated Aug. 26 and posted on the committee’s Facebook page and to its account on X.
The letter is the latest repudiation by Zuckerberg of efforts to target misinformation around the coronavirus pandemic during and after the 2020 presidential election, particularly as allegations have emerged that some posts were deleted or restricted wrongly.
“I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” he said, without elaborating. “We’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.”
In response, the White House said in a statement, “When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this Administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety. Our position has been clear and consistent: we believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present.”
Facebook in August 2020 removed a post by then-president Donald Trump that communicated “false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19,” which it said violated site policies. Trump had posted a video from Fox News that claimed children were “virtually immune” from the virus.
In early 2021, Facebook appended what Zuckerberg called labels with “credible information” to posts about COVID-19 vaccines. That’s after it moved in April 2020 — just as the virus had led to global shutdowns and radical changes in everyday life — to warn users who shared misinformation about COVID-19.
“In light of ongoing investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and in consultation with public health experts, we will no longer remove the claim that COVID-19 is man-made from our apps,” the platform said in another important decision related to the pandemic, in May 2021.
Conservatives have long derided Facebook and other major tech companies as favouring liberal priorities and accused them of censorship.
Zuckerberg has tried to change the company’s perception on the right, appearing on…
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