Meta CEO’s stunning claim: Biden administration coerced Facebook into censorship

Zuckerberg says he regrets not being more outspoken about ‘White House pressure’

In a startling revelation, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has accused the US government of exerting significant pressure on Meta to censor certain content across its platforms. In a letter addressed to the US House of Representatives, Zuckerberg detailed how the Biden administration allegedly pushed Meta to restrict specific information.

Zuckerberg’s letter reveals that, with the benefit of hindsight and new insights, Meta would not have implemented certain changes it did at the time. The CEO expressed regret for not being more vocal about the pressures faced, acknowledging that the platform’s response to governmental demands has been a point of reflection.

The letter read, “In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree. Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure. I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.”

Zuckerberg expressed that Meta should not compromise its content standards under pressure from any administration, stating, “We’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.” He also mentioned a warning from the FBI about a “potential Russian disinformation operation concerning the Biden family and Burisma in the lead-up to the 2020 election.”

He added, “That fall, when we saw a New York Post story reporting on corruption allegations involving then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s family, we sent that story to fact-checkers for review and temporarily demoted it while waiting for a reply. It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story. We’ve changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again for instance; we no longer temporarily demote things in the US while waiting for fact-checkers.”

Zuckerberg reiterated his support for the electoral infrastructure ahead of the presidential elections in November. He spoke of what he made to strengthen the infrastructure in a non-partisan way.

“I know that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other. My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another or even appear to be playing a role. So, I don’t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle,” he said.

For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.

The post Meta CEO’s stunning claim: Biden administration coerced Facebook into censorship appeared first on PGurus.