Zuckerberg Says Biden ‘Pressured’ Facebook To Censure Content

Tuesday, August 27, 2024  Read time2 min

SAEDNEWS: The Meta boss, Mark Zuckerberg, has said he regrets bowing to what he claims was pressure from the US government to censor posts about Covid on Facebook and Instagram during the pandemic.

Zuckerberg Says Biden ‘Pressured’ Facebook To Censure Content

According to SAEDNEWS, Zuckerberg said senior White House officials in Joe Biden’s administration “repeatedly pressured” Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to “censor certain Covid-19 content” during the pandemic, The Guardian reported.

“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 humour and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree,” he said in a letter to Jim Jordan, the head of the US House of Representatives judiciary committee. “I believe the government pressure was wrong.”

During the pandemic, Facebook added misinformation alerts to users when they commented on or liked posts that were judged to contain false information about Covid.

The company also deleted posts criticising Covid vaccines, and suggestions the virus was developed in a Chinese laboratory.

In the 2020 US presidential election campaign, Biden accused social media platforms such as Facebook of “killing people” by allowing disinformation about coronavirus vaccines to be posted on its platform.

“I think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” Zuckerberg said. “I regret we were not more outspoken about it.

“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.”

Zuckerberg also said that Facebook “temporarily demoted” a story about the contents of a laptop owned by Hunter Biden, the president’s son, after a warning from the FBI that Russia was preparing a disinformation campaign against the Bidens.

Zuckerberg wrote that it has since become clear that the story was not disinformation, and “in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story”.

The House judiciary committee, which is controlled by Republicans, called Zuckerberg’s admissions a “big win for free speech” in a post on the committee’s Facebook page.

The White House defended its actions during the pandemic, saying it encouraged “responsible actions to protect public health and safety”.

“Our position has been clear and consistent,” it said. “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.”


Latest news  
Sky Corridor: An Architectural Engineering Marvel – A Suspended Glass Bridge with Stunning Waterfall Views. Want to experience the most breathtaking high-altitude thrill? +Video Masterful Innovation at the Shanghai Auto Show: Chery’s Newest Ultra-Luxury, Fully Equipped Model – Live Your Dream with This Car! +Video Israeli Army: The fighting continues, and no ceasefire has been declared—for now. Step into the Qajar Era: Parade at ‘Naqsh-e Jahan’ and Naser al-Din Shah’s Grand Development Projects! Amazing Discovery: A 1,000-Year-Old Treasure Unearthed by a Lucky Family in Their Backyard + Photos Amazing Discovery of a Cave Full of Antiques and Valuable Treasures in Iran – Seeing Them Will Blow Your Mind! +Photos A 20-Year-Old Girl with a Rare Condition Who Has No Bones in Her Body! + Astonishing Photos Araghchi: Iran is Determined to Safeguard Its Nuclear Rights. Heavy Israeli strikes on Gaza continue, despite Tel Aviv’s claims of scaling back operations. Trump Blocks the Way: World Cup Visas Hit with New Restrictions! Iran’s Fearsome Weapon That Has Left Enemies Stunned! The Whole World Races to Build It… Netanyahu: “None of The Plan’s Provisions Will be Implemented Until All Hostages Are Freed! Will Russia and China Abandon Iran in the Next Iran-Israel War? What Happens If Iran Fires 400 Missiles in the First 24 Hours… Trump: The First Phase of the Gaza Agreement Is On the Verge of Being Finalized. Who Is the Israeli Woman Behind Reza Pahlavi? / Mossad’s Secret Operation for Reza Pahlavi’s Coronation!