Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, has alleged that high-ranking officials from President Joe Biden’s administration pressured his company in 2021 to censor specific COVID-19-related content, including humor and satire.
In a statement released on Monday, Zuckerberg addressed Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Jerrold Nadler, the committee’s Ranking Member. He revealed that Meta faced persistent demands from the White House to remove certain content from its platforms. While acknowledging that Meta made its own decisions regarding content removal, Zuckerberg criticized the government’s actions as inappropriate.
“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg remarked.
Zuckerberg emphasized Meta’s commitment to upholding its content standards without bowing to political influence. He also expressed a readiness to resist similar pressures in the future.
The Meta CEO recounted an incident where the FBI warned the company about a potential Russian disinformation campaign involving the Biden family and Burisma ahead of the 2020 election. After the New York Post published a story alleging corruption within the Biden family, Meta temporarily reduced the story’s visibility while waiting for fact-checkers to verify its accuracy. Reflecting on this decision, Zuckerberg admitted, “In retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story.”
Zuckerberg also discussed his contributions during the last presidential election cycle through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The funds provided were intended to support local election jurisdictions in ensuring safe voting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the contributions were non-partisan, Zuckerberg acknowledged that some viewed them as favoring one political party over another. He announced that he does not plan to make similar contributions in future elections, saying, “I don’t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle.”
In his statement, Zuckerberg expressed appreciation for the Committee’s interest in content moderation on online platforms. He noted that Meta had already produced thousands of documents as part of the investigation and made several employees available for interviews.
“There’s a lot of talk right now around how the U.S. government interacts with companies like Meta, and I want to be clear about our position. Our platforms are for everyone; we’re about promoting speech and helping people connect in a safe and secure way,” Zuckerberg stated.
He continued, “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 humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration when we didn’t comply. Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including the changes we made to COVID-19-related enforcement under this pressure.”
“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it. With the benefit of hindsight, there are choices we wouldn’t make today. I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration, and we’re prepared to push back if it happens again.”
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