Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, alleged that the Biden-Harris administration repeatedly pressured Meta to censor certain posts related to COVID-19. According to Zuckerberg, the administration, including senior White House officials, urged Meta to suppress COVID-19 content, even humor and satire, expressing frustration when the platform did not comply fully.
Zuckerberg admitted that Meta made some enforcement decisions during that time that it would not make today, “with the benefit of hindsight and new information.” He expressed regret for not being more outspoken against the government pressure. “We should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any administration,” he wrote, adding that Meta is prepared to push back against similar situations in the future.
The Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee shared Zuckerberg’s statements on social media, claiming it as a “big win for free speech.” The post noted that Zuckerberg had admitted the Biden administration pressured Meta, that Facebook censored Americans, and that the platform suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story.
In his letter, Zuckerberg also recounted an incident in which the FBI warned Meta about a potential Russian disinformation campaign regarding the Biden family in the 2020 election. As a result, Meta demoted a story concerning corruption allegations involving Joe Biden’s family. Zuckerberg now says that this story was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, it should not have been demoted.