Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Facebook faced pressure from the federal government to censor COVID-19 content, a decision he now regrets. In a letter sent to the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Aug. 26, Zuckerberg detailed how senior officials from the Biden administration pushed for the censorship of certain COVID-19 information, including humor and satire, expressing frustration when Facebook did not comply.
Zuckerberg emphasized that despite the pressure, it was ultimately Facebook’s decision whether to remove content, taking ownership of the changes made in response to government demands. While he did not provide specific examples of the information targeted for suppression, social media platforms, including Facebook, censored content deemed as misinformation related to the pandemic.
With the benefit of hindsight, Zuckerberg expressed doubt that the same decisions would be made today, asserting that Facebook would resist government interference in the future. He acknowledged that the government pressure was wrong and lamented not speaking out more forcefully against it at the time.
During the previous election, Zuckerberg contributed $400 million through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to support election infrastructure, aiming to ensure safe voting amidst the pandemic. However, he stated that he would refrain from making similar contributions for the upcoming election to avoid any perception of influencing the outcome.
Despite reaching out to the White House for comment on Zuckerberg’s claims, The Epoch Times did not receive a response by the time of publication. Chris Summers also contributed to this report.
