Mark Zuckerberg admits Biden admin. pressured Facebook to 'censor' COVID-19, Hunter Biden content

'I believe the government pressure was wrong'

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024, in Washington, D.C. The committee heard testimony from the heads of the largest tech firms on the dangers of child sexual exploitation on social media.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024, in Washington, D.C. The committee heard testimony from the heads of the largest tech firms on the dangers of child sexual exploitation on social media. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee on Monday that the Biden administration pressured his company to effectively "censor" Facebook content related to COVID-19 and Hunter Biden's laptop.

"I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it," Zuckerberg wrote in the letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

"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," he added.

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Zuckerberg alleged that senior officials in the Biden administration badgered the social media giant "to censor certain posts about Covid-19, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn't agree."

While acknowledging that Meta remained independent regarding their decision on what content to remove, Zuckerberg regretfully admitted that they often caved to government pressure, which included suppressing the New York Post story about Hunter Biden's laptop after the FBI labeled it Russian disinformation before the 2020 presidential election.

"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," he wrote. 

"It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story," he added.

Zuckerberg's letter came as the House Judiciary Committee has been investigating alleged government interference in content moderation on social media.

In August 2021, Meta announced it had removed 20 million posts and 3,000 Facebook accounts for allegedly spreading "misinformation" regarding COVID-19 and vaccines.

Noting how they "provided authoritative information to help improve vaccine acceptance," the company boasted that "people in the US on Facebook, vaccine hesitancy has declined by 50%."

"Globally, we have also seen vaccine acceptance rising," they added.

The White House said in a statement to Politico on Monday that the administration believes tech companies such as Meta have a responsibility to police content on their platforms.

"When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this Administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety," the White House said.

"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," it added.

The House Judiciary GOP tweeted out Zuckerberg's letter, calling it a "big win for free speech."

Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com

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