Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has expressed regret over bowing to what he claims was pressure from the U.S. government to censor certain content related to Covid-19 on Facebook and Instagram during the pandemic.
In a letter addressed to Jim Jordan, the head of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg outlined how senior officials from President Biden’s administration, including the White House, allegedly “repeatedly pressured” Meta to take down specific Covid-19 posts, including those involving humor and satire.
“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain Covid-19 content,” Zuckerberg stated in his letter. He added that the pressure led to frustration when Meta did not comply with the requests, saying, “I believe the government pressure was wrong.” Zuckerberg acknowledged that decisions were made during that time, influenced by these pressures, which, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, Meta would not repeat today. He also expressed regret that Meta was “not more outspoken about it” at the time.
Throughout the pandemic, Meta implemented various measures to combat misinformation. In August 2021, the company reported that it had removed more than 20 million posts related to Covid-19 across Facebook and Instagram for violating content rules. These actions included:
- Adding alerts to posts flagged for containing misinformation about Covid-19.
- Removing posts that were critical of Covid-19 vaccines.
- Deleting content suggesting the virus was engineered in a Chinese laboratory.
During the 2020 U.S. presidential election campaign, President Biden criticized social media platforms, accusing them of “killing people” by allowing misinformation about coronavirus vaccines to spread.
Meta Ready to Resist Future Pressures
Zuckerberg emphasized his belief that Meta should not compromise its content standards due to pressure from any administration. He stated, “Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any administration in either direction. And we are ready to push back if something like this happens again.”
Additionally, Zuckerberg revealed that Meta had temporarily downplayed a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop after warnings from the FBI about a possible Russian disinformation campaign targeting the Bidens. He admitted that, in hindsight, it became clear the story was not disinformation and expressed regret for demoting it, saying, “in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story.”
The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee viewed Zuckerberg’s admissions as a significant win for free speech, highlighting them in a post on their Facebook page.
In response to the allegations, the White House defended its actions, emphasizing its efforts to promote public health and safety during the pandemic. A statement from the White House read, “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.”
Featured Image courtesy of Alex Wong/Getty Images
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