Zuckerberg Claims Biden Admin Pressured Facebook to Censor Covid Content

Mark Zuckerberg has revealed that the Biden administration pressured Facebook to censor Covid-19 related content in 2021. The CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, addressed this issue in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee on Monday.

Zuckerberg’s letter, directed to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, stated that senior officials from the Biden administration exerted pressure on Facebook for several months, urging the platform to restrict certain Covid-19 content, including posts that contained humor or satire.

In his correspondence, Zuckerberg expressed regret about not resisting more forcefully against the government’s demands. “I believe the government pressure was wrong and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” he wrote.

He further noted, “I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today.” During the pandemic, misinformation regarding Covid-19 proliferated on social media platforms, prompting efforts by tech companies to manage and curtail false information.

This year, the Supreme Court supported the Biden administration in a ruling that upheld the government’s ability to request the removal of harmful misinformation from social media platforms. In a 6-3 decision, the justices overturned a lower court ruling that had restricted government communications with social media companies. The court found that the challengers, which included two states and several social media users, lacked standing to pursue the case.

While Zuckerberg did not specify the exact content Facebook was pressured to take down, he asserted that the platform should maintain its content standards irrespective of governmental pressure. “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,” he stated.

Additionally, Zuckerberg acknowledged a mistake made by Facebook during the 2020 election when it suppressed a story from The New York Post regarding Hunter Biden. In October 2020, the newspaper reported about contents from a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden that was left at a Delaware repair shop. Among these findings was an email some described as a “smoking gun,” where Hunter supposedly suggested meeting with an executive from Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company where he was a board member.

Initial reactions to the story were cautious, with some media outlets, including others under Rupert Murdoch’s News International, deciding to hold off on coverage due to concerns over the authenticity of the emails.

In his letter, Zuckerberg admitted that the demotion of The New York Post’s story detailing these corruption allegations was a misstep while they waited for fact checkers to confirm its validity prior to the election.

He mentioned that the FBI had cautioned Facebook about a potential Russian disinformation campaign concerning the Biden family and Burisma during the election period, but it has since become clear that the reporting was not part of such a campaign. “In retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” he acknowledged.

The letter sparked a flurry of responses, particularly from House Judiciary Republicans, who hailed it as a significant victory for free speech. They highlighted three admissions from Zuckerberg in their communications: 1. The Biden-Harris Administration pressured Facebook to censor content. 2. Facebook did indeed censor content. 3. Facebook limited the reach of the Hunter Biden laptop story.

As reactions unfold, The Independent has reached out to the White House for its perspective on the situation.