Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms (META.O), stated that the Biden administration pressed the company to “censor” COVID-19 content during the pandemic. This appears to allude to White House requests to remove misinformation concerning the coronavirus and immunisations.
In a letter dated August 26, Mark Zuckerberg informed the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee that he regretted not speaking up sooner about this pressure, as well as other judgements he had made as the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp over the removal of specific information.
In July 2021, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, stated that social media platforms such as Facebook “are killing people” by permitting misinformation regarding coronavirus vaccines to be shared.
Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy have openly stated that the company’s failure to combat misinformation is hindering efforts to save lives during the outbreak.
Facebook announced at the time that it was taking “aggressive steps” to combat such misinformation. Despite the spread of vaccine-related misinformation on social media, the Biden administration eventually relaxed its criticism.
In a letter to the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee on Monday, Mark Zuckerberg stated that his firm was “pressured” into “censoring” information and that it would respond if similar demands were made again.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Letter to House Judiciary Committee
“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humour and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree,”Mark Zuckerberg wrote in the letter, which the Judiciary Committee posted on its Facebook page.
“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret we were not more outspoken about it,” he said. “I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today.”
The White House issued a statement encouraging reasonable efforts to preserve public health and safety in the face of a devastating epidemic.
“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.”
Mark Zuckerberg has recently attempted to cater to conservative fans, praising Republican nominee Donald Trump’s response to an assassination attempt as “badass” and appearing on right-wing podcasts. Representative Jim Jordan, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is a long-time Trump supporter.
In a Facebook post, the Judiciary Committee described the letter as a “big win for free speech” and stated that Mark Zuckerberg agreed that “Facebook censored Americans”.
In the letter, Zuckerberg also stated that he will not contribute to electoral infrastructure in this year’s presidential election in order to “not play a role one way or another” in the November vote.
During the 2020 pandemic, the billionaire contributed $400 million to support election infrastructure through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, his philanthropic venture with his wife. However, some groups criticised the move as partisan and sued.
