In a letter sent to US House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jim Jordan on Monday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged the Biden-Harris administration pressured Facebook to censor COVID-19 information, as well as news about the infamous Hunter Biden laptop. The letter comes more than a year after Meta provided the committee with thousands of documents as part of its investigation into content moderation on online platforms, reports Fox News, adding Meta has also provided the committee with access to a dozen employees for transcribed 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," Zuckerberg wrote. "Our platforms are for everyone, we’re about promoting speech and helping people connect in a safe and secure way. As part of this, we regularly hear from governments around the world and others with various concerns around public discourse and public safety." He told Jordan that in 2021, "senior officials" from the Biden administration and White House "repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire." Zuckerberg said Facebook did not agree with the censorship, adding at that time, the Biden administration expressed a lot of frustration. "Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure," Zuckerberg wrote. "I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it. "I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today. Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards to pressure from any Administration in either direction and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens." Fox News reached out to the White House for comment, with a spokesperson responding, "When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety. 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." Zuckerberg also confirmed the FBI "warned" the platform "about a potential Russian disinformation operation about the Biden family and Burisma in the lead up to the 2020 election," reports the Post Millennial, adding the FBI also laid out a hypothetical Russian "disinfo campaign" would include a fake story about a discovered Hunter Biden laptop in an attempt to discredit Biden's campaign. The New York Post broke the story, which is now known to be true. In his letter, Zuckerberg wrote the impetus for the platform to censor and suppress the New York Post's reporting on the laptop was a direct result of the FBI's warnings. "It's since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation," he said, "and in retrospect, we shouldn't have demoted the story. He added Facebook’s policies have been changed and will "no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers." "Mark Zuckerberg just admitted three things," the House Judiciary Committee said in response to the letter, "1. Biden-Harris Admin "pressured" Facebook to censor Americans. 2. Facebook censored Americans. 3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story. Big win for free speech." The Post Millennial reports Zuckerberg wrote about his relationship to the last election cycle, saying "I want to address the contributions I made during the last presidential cycle to support electoral infrastructure.” “The idea here was to make sure local election jurisdictions across the country had the resources they needed to help people vote safely during a global pandemic. These, he said "were designed to be non-partisan, spread across urban, rural and suburban communities." Zuckerberg wrote he is aware "that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other." In concluding the letter Zuckerberg wrote his goal "is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another or even to be playing a role. So, I don't plan on making a similar contribution this cycle." Zuckerberg recently told Donald Trump, he was a "badass" after the July 13 assassination attempt and that he won’t be supporting the Democrats in 2024, reports the Post Millennial.
In a letter sent to US House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jim Jordan on Monday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged the Biden-Harris administration pressured Facebook to censor COVID-19 information, as well as news about the infamous Hunter Biden laptop. The letter comes more than a year after Meta provided the committee with thousands of documents as part of its investigation into content moderation on online platforms, reports Fox News, adding Meta has also provided the committee with access to a dozen employees for transcribed 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," Zuckerberg wrote. "Our platforms are for everyone, we’re about promoting speech and helping people connect in a safe and secure way. As part of this, we regularly hear from governments around the world and others with various concerns around public discourse and public safety." He told Jordan that in 2021, "senior officials" from the Biden administration and White House "repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire." Zuckerberg said Facebook did not agree with the censorship, adding at that time, the Biden administration expressed a lot of frustration. "Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure," Zuckerberg wrote. "I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it. "I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today. Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards to pressure from any Administration in either direction and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens." Fox News reached out to the White House for comment, with a spokesperson responding, "When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety. 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." Zuckerberg also confirmed the FBI "warned" the platform "about a potential Russian disinformation operation about the Biden family and Burisma in the lead up to the 2020 election," reports the Post Millennial, adding the FBI also laid out a hypothetical Russian "disinfo campaign" would include a fake story about a discovered Hunter Biden laptop in an attempt to discredit Biden's campaign. The New York Post broke the story, which is now known to be true. In his letter, Zuckerberg wrote the impetus for the platform to censor and suppress the New York Post's reporting on the laptop was a direct result of the FBI's warnings. "It's since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation," he said, "and in retrospect, we shouldn't have demoted the story. He added Facebook’s policies have been changed and will "no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers." "Mark Zuckerberg just admitted three things," the House Judiciary Committee said in response to the letter, "1. Biden-Harris Admin "pressured" Facebook to censor Americans. 2. Facebook censored Americans. 3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story. Big win for free speech." The Post Millennial reports Zuckerberg wrote about his relationship to the last election cycle, saying "I want to address the contributions I made during the last presidential cycle to support electoral infrastructure.” “The idea here was to make sure local election jurisdictions across the country had the resources they needed to help people vote safely during a global pandemic. These, he said "were designed to be non-partisan, spread across urban, rural and suburban communities." Zuckerberg wrote he is aware "that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other." In concluding the letter Zuckerberg wrote his goal "is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another or even to be playing a role. So, I don't plan on making a similar contribution this cycle." Zuckerberg recently told Donald Trump, he was a "badass" after the July 13 assassination attempt and that he won’t be supporting the Democrats in 2024, reports the Post Millennial.
