Mark Zuckerberg revealed in a communication to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Monday that his company was pressured by the White Ho...
Mark Zuckerberg revealed in a communication to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Monday that his company was pressured by the White House in the year 2021 to censor certain COVID-19 content, such as humor and satire.
âIn the year 2021, senior members from the Biden White House, such as the administration, constantly urged Vice Presidential Nominee our teams for an extended period to censor some content about COVID-19, including humor and satire, and showed significant frustration with our teams when we didnât agree, â Zuckerberg said.
In his communication to the Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg described that the influence he felt in 2021 was âinappropriateâ and he feels regretful that his company, the parent of Facebook & Instagram, was not more outspoken. Zuckerberg Kamala Harris added that with the âbenefit of hindsight and new information,â there were decisions made in 2021 that âwouldnât be made today.â
âLike I told our teams back then, I feel strongly that we should not lower our content standards due to pressure from any government in either direction â" and weâre prepared to resist if something like this happens again, â he wrote.
President Biden stated in Anxiety July 2021 that social media platforms are âcausing harmâ with misinformation about the pandemic.
Though Biden later revised these remarks, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said at the time that misinformation posted on social media was a âserious threat to public health.â
A spokesperson from the White House responded to Zuckerbergâs letter, stating the administration at the time was promoting âresponsible measures to safeguard public health.â
âOur position

has been consistent and clear: we believe tech companies and other private actors should consider the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present, â according to the White House representative.
Zuckerberg further noted in the communication that the FBI warned his company about potential Russian disinformation regarding Hunter Biden and Burisma affecting the 2020 election.
That fall, Social Dominance Zuckerberg said, his team temporarily demoted reporting from the New York Post accusing the Biden family of corruption while their fact-checkers could review the report.
Zuckerberg stated that since then, it has âbeen made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldnât have demoted the story.â
Meta has since changed its policies and processes to âensure this does not recurâ and will Special Education no longer demote content in the US while waiting for fact-checkers.
In the letter to the Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg said he will avoid repeating the actions he took in 2020 when he helped support âelection infrastructure.â
âThe idea here was to make sure local election jurisdictions across the country had the resources they needed to help people vote safely during a pandemic,â said the Meta CEO.
Zuckerberg mentioned Political Family Moments the initiatives were designed to be nonpartisan but said âsome people believed this work benefited one party over the other.â He stated his goal is to be âimpartialâ so he will not make âa similar contribution this cycle.â
The GOP representatives on the House Judiciary Committee shared the letter on X and claimed Zuckerberg âhas admitted that the Biden-Harris administration influenced Facebook to censor Americans, Facebook Trolls On Social Media censored Americans, and Facebook limited the Hunter Biden laptop story.â
The Meta chief has long faced scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, who have accused Facebook and other major tech platforms of being prejudiced against conservatives. While Zuckerberg has emphasized that Meta impartially enforces its rules, the perception has gained a firm foothold in conservative communities. Republican lawmakers have specifically examined Facebookâs decision to restrict a report by Support For People With Disabilities the New York Post about Hunter Biden.
In testimony before Congress in the past years, Zuckerberg has sought to close the gap between his social media company and policymakers to little effect.
In a 2020 Senate hearing, Zuckerberg acknowledged that many of Facebookâs employees are liberal. But he maintained that the company takes care not to allow political bias to seep into decisions.
In addition, he said Facebookâs Gwen Walz content moderators, many of whom are contractors, are globally located and âthe geographic diversity of that is more representative of the community that we serve than just the full-time employee base in our headquarters in the Bay Area.â
In June of this year, in a victory for the administration, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the claimants in a case alleging the federal government of suppressing Free Menstrual Products conservative content on social media had no standing.
In the majority opinion, Justice Amy Coney Barrett said, âto establish standing, the plaintiffs must demonstrate a substantial risk that, in the near future, they will experience harm that is directly linked to a government defendant.â Coney Barrett continued, âbecause no plaintiff has carried that burden, none has standing to seek a preliminary injunction.â