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Big quote: Mark Zuckerberg claims that Facebook was pressured by the Biden administration to take down Covid-related content during the pandemic. The Meta CEO said that he regrets acceding to the demands and not being "outspoken" about what was happening. Zuckerberg also said he would "push back" if something similar happened again.
In a letter to the Committee on the Judiciary of the US House of Representatives, Zuckerberg wrote that in 2021 senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured Meta's teams for months to censor certain Covid-19 content, including humor and satire.
"I believe the government pressure was wrong and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it," Zuckerberg wrote in the letter. "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."
Social media platforms faced a deluge of Covid-related posts from users duriong the pandemic. Facebook took down more than 20 million pieces of content in just over a year over claims it was misinformation or that it violated the company's policies.
Facebook faced criticism for its censoring of certain Covid-related posts. That backlash grew after the platform announced in May 2021 that it would no longer remove posts claiming the virus was manufactured. Facebook altered its policy following a Wall Street Journal report of three scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology being hospitalized in late 2019 with symptoms similar to those experienced by individuals infected with the virus.
Zuckerberg also wrote that Facebook should not have demoted a New York Post story about corruption allegations involving Joe Biden's family ahead of the 2020 election while waiting for fact-checkers to review it – it was later made clear that the report was not Russian disinformation, as initially believed. Facebook has since changed its policies and processes so stories will not be temporarily demoted in the US while waiting for fact-checkers.
The final part of the letter addresses Zuckerberg's plan to ensure he remains neutral in the upcoming US election. He made contributions to local jurisdictions to support election infrastructure in 2020, which he said were designed to be non-partisan, but Zuckerberg said some people believed the work benefited one party over another. There will be no such contributions during this year's elections.
– House Judiciary GOP ðºð¸ðºð¸ðºð¸ (@JudiciaryGOP) August 26, 2024Mark Zuckerberg just admitted three things:
1. Biden-Harris Admin "pressured" Facebook to censor Americans.
2. Facebook censored Americans.
3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story.
Big win for free speech. pic.twitter.com/ALlbZd9l6K
House Judiciary Republicans wrote on X that Zuckerberg admitted in the letter that the Biden-Harris administration pressured Facebook to censor Americans, which the platform did, and that Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story. They called the letter a "Big win for free speech."