Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee that the Biden administration pressured Facebook to censor certain Covid-related content in 2021, including “human and satire,” expressing regret for not being more outspoken against the government’s actions.
The Wall Street Journal reports that in a letter addressed to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that senior Biden administration officials, including those from the White House, “repeatedly pressured” Facebook to censor certain Covid-19 related content, including humor and satire, in 2021. Zuckerberg revealed that the officials expressed frustration when Facebook’s teams did not agree to censor the content as requested, highlighting the tension between the social media giant and the government over content moderation.
“I believe that the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote in his letter. “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’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.”
Zuckerberg’s stance marks a significant shift from Facebook’s publicly stated goal in 2021 to push millions toward Covid-19 vaccines. The Wall Street Journal had previously reported on the debates between the company and the White House over Covid content moderation, providing further insight into the complex relationship between social media platforms and the government. The White House at the time said its discussions with social media platforms were aimed at promoting vaccine adoption and other public health goals, fearing that vaccine hesitancy fueled by posts on Facebook could undermine the nation’s vaccination efforts.
In the letter, Zuckerberg also indicated that he will not repeat efforts to heavily fund election administration like he did in 2020, when he and his wife Priscilla Chan donated over $400 million to assist with conducting elections amid the pandemic. While many localities said the money helped them run elections smoothly, Republicans criticized the donations, dubbed “Zuckerbucks,” as unfairly benefitting Democratic areas. Over two dozen mostly Republican states have since banned or restricted such private election funding, citing concerns about the potential for undue influence on the electoral process.
“Still, despite the analyses I’ve seen showing otherwise, I know that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other,” Zuckerberg said, addressing the controversy surrounding his election funding. “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another — or to even appear to be playing a role.”
The Meta CEO further admitted that Facebook was wrong to have demoted a New York Post story on Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election. At the time, dozens of former intelligence officials suggested that the emails’ release had hallmarks of a Russian disinformation operation, leading Facebook to take action against the story. “It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” Zuckerberg said, acknowledging the company’s error in judgment. The social media company has since updated its policies and processes, including no longer demoting content in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers, he noted.
House Judiciary Republicans touted the letter as a “big win for free speech” Monday night, highlighting the significance of Zuckerberg’s admissions. “Mark Zuckerberg just admitted three things: 1. Biden-Harris Admin ‘pressured’ Facebook to censor Americans. 2. Facebook censored Americans. 3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story,” the panel wrote on the social platform X (formerly Twitter.) “Mark Zuckerberg also tells the Judiciary Committee that he won’t spend money this election cycle. That’s right, no more Zuck-bucks. Huge win for election integrity,” it added.
The Biden administration’s communications with social media companies about taking down COVID-19 and election misinformation were at the center of a case before the Supreme Court last term. In a 6-3 decision in June, the court rejected challenges to officials’ communications with the companies, finding that the two Republican attorneys general and private parties that brought the case did not have legal standing. However, the justices did not rule on the First Amendment issues in the case, leaving the door open for future legal challenges on the matter.
A White House spokesperson said in a statement, “When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this Administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety. Our position has been clear and consistent: 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.”
Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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