Mark Zuckerberg has claimed that the Biden administration pressured Facebook to censor COVID-19 content in 2021.
In a letter to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram), revealed that senior officials in President Joe Biden’s administration “repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humorous and satire.” He admitted that he regretted not resisting the administration’s demands more strongly.
Zuckerberg expressed regret over the government pressure, stating, “I believe the government pressure was wrong and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.” He also acknowledged that some decisions made during that time, with the benefit of hindsight, would not be made today.
Throughout the pandemic, misinformation about COVID-19 proliferated on social media, despite efforts by tech companies to curb it. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court supported the Biden administration by ruling that the government can request social media companies to remove harmful misinformation. The 6-3 decision overturned a lower court ruling that had restricted government communication with social media platforms, noting that the challengers did not have standing to bring the lawsuit.
While Zuckerberg did not specify the exact content Facebook was pressured to remove, he emphasized, “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.”
Zuckerberg also admitted that Facebook erred in suppressing a New York Post story about Hunter Biden before the 2020 election. The story, published in October 2020, claimed to have obtained emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop, including one suggesting he arranged a meeting between his father and a Burisma executive.
Zuckerberg noted that Facebook “shouldn’t have demoted” the New York Post story while waiting for fact-checkers to verify it. The FBI had warned of potential Russian disinformation regarding the Biden family and Burisma, but it has since been clarified that the reporting was not disinformation.
In response to the letter, House Judiciary Republicans hailed it as a “big win for free speech,” with their statement on X highlighting three admissions: 1) The Biden administration pressured Facebook to censor content; 2) Facebook complied by censoring content; and 3) Facebook suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story.
Mark 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 GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) August 26, 2024
A White House spokesperson responded, stating that the Biden administration “encouraged responsible actions” to protect public health and safety. They emphasized that tech companies should independently make choices about the information they present while considering its impact on the American people
