Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Admits to Biden Administration’s Pressure to Censor COVID Content in Bombshell Letter
Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that the Biden administration was “wrong” in pressuring Facebook to censor what they labeled as “COVID misinformation” during the pandemic.
In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, the Meta CEO revealed that the company would resist any future attempts at censorship. He also admitted that Facebook had “demoted” stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Zuckerberg stated that the White House “repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration when we didn’t comply.”
He described this pressure as “wrong” and expressed regret for not being more outspoken about it.
“We made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” Zuckerberg added. “I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any administration in either direction, and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.”
A White House spokesperson told the Daily Mail that the Biden administration’s policy has always been to encourage big tech companies to act responsibly.
“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.”
A Meta spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that the letter “spoke for itself.”
Zuckerberg also mentioned that Meta would not repeat what it did in 2020, when it funded nonprofits that supported local election efforts—a move that Republicans criticized as “Zuckerbucks” meant to benefit liberals.
He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated nearly $420 million to nonprofits that aided in the administration and infrastructure of the 2020 election, with most of the funds going to Democrat-leaning counties. Zuckerberg, 37, and Chan, 36, gave $419.5 million to The Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) and The Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR), with the donations reportedly coming with specific conditions.
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