Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, testified during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis,” in the Dirksen building, Wednesday, January 31, 2024.
Tom Williams CQ-Roll Phone, Inc. | Getty Images
The Biden administration is “pressuring” Facebook parents Meta to “censor” content related to Covid-19, the CEO of the social media giant. Mark Zuckerberg, allegedly, added that he regrets some of the decisions he made regarding the US government’s request.
“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our team for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed frustration with the team when we disagreed. , Zuckerberg wrote in a letter to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee.
The letter was posted on the committee’s Facebook page and on its account on the X social media platform on Monday.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the letter to CNBC.
Zuckerberg said it was ultimately Meta’s decision to remove any content, but he said he believes “government pressure is wrong.”
“I regret that we didn’t talk about it,” Zuckerberg said.
NBC News reached out to the White House for comment Tuesday morning, but did not immediately receive a response.
In a statement to Politico, the White House said, “In the face of a deadly pandemic, this Administration is committed to taking responsible action to protect the public’s health and safety.”
“Our position has been clear and consistent: we believe that technology companies and other private actors must consider the effect of their actions on the American people, when making independent choices about the information they provide,” he added.
Zuckerberg said Meta made some choices that, “with the benefit of hindsight and new information,” the tech giant will never make again.
“As I told my team at the time, I don’t think we’re going to compromise our content standards because of pressure from the Administration in one direction — and we’re prepared to back down if that happens again,” Zuckerberg said.
In August 2021, Facebook said it had removed more than 20 million posts related to Covid-19 for violating content rules on its major social networking site and Instagram.
That year, the White House criticized social media companies, including Facebook, for allowing misinformation related to the coronavirus to spread on its platforms.
Zuckerberg’s letter underscores the ongoing debate about the extent to which social media companies should moderate content.
The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has alleged that large technology companies colluded with the government to censor speech.
Zuckerberg also discussed his position in the upcoming US presidential election, stating that he contributed through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to the electoral infrastructure during the previous round in the polls. He said he will not do this for the upcoming elections.
“My goal is to be neutral and not play a role — or even appear to play a role,” Zuckerberg said.