Zuckerberg alleges White House ‘pressured’ Meta to ‘censor’ Covid-19 content

The Biden Administration “pressured” Fb-parent Meta to “censor” content material associated to Covid-19, the social media large’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg alleged, including that he regrets a few of the choices taken in relation to the U.S. authorities’s requests.

“In 2021, senior officers from the Biden Administration, together with the White Home, repeatedly pressured our groups for months to censor sure COVID-19 content material, together with humor and satire, and expressed lots of frustration with our groups once we did not agree,” Zuckerberg wrote in a letter to the Republican-led Home Judiciary Committee.

The letter was posted on the Committee’s Fb web page and on its account on the X social media platform on Monday.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed the letter’s authenticity to CNBC.

Zuckerberg stated it was finally Meta’s determination to take down any content material, however he famous he believes that the so-called “authorities stress was incorrect.”

“I remorse that we weren’t extra outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg stated.

NBC Information has reached out to the White Home for remark Tuesday morning, however didn’t instantly obtain a response.

In an announcement to Politico, the White Home stated: “When confronted with a lethal pandemic, this Administration inspired accountable actions to guard public well being and security.”

“Our place has been clear and constant: we imagine tech corporations and different non-public actors ought to keep in mind the consequences their actions have on the American individuals, whereas making unbiased selections in regards to the data they current,” it added.

Zuckerberg stated Meta made some selections that, “with the advantage of hindsight and new data,” the tech large wouldn’t make once more.

“Like I stated to our groups on the time, I really feel strongly that we must always not compromise our content material requirements because of stress from any Administration in both route — and we’re able to push again if one thing like this occurs once more,” Zuckerberg stated.

In August 2021, Fb stated it had eliminated greater than 20 million posts associated to Covid-19 for violating its content material guidelines throughout the principle social networking website and Instagram.

That yr, the White Home criticized social media corporations, together with Fb, for permitting misinformation associated to the Coronavirus to unfold throughout their platforms.

Zuckerberg’s letter underscores the continued debate in regards to the extent to which social media corporations ought to average content material.

The Home Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has alleged that huge expertise corporations colluded with the federal government to censor speech.

Zuckerberg additionally mentioned his place on the upcoming U.S. presidential vote, noting that he made contributions by way of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative towards electoral infrastructure through the earlier spherical on the polls. He stated he is not going to be doing that for the upcoming election.

“My aim is to be impartial and never play a task a technique or one other — or to even look like taking part in a task,” Zuckerberg stated.