Zuckerberg claims Biden admin Pressured Meta to censor Covid-19 content

English , International - بین الاقوامی , Snippets , / Tuesday, August 27th, 2024

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Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the Biden administration pressured the company to “censor” Covid-19 content during the pandemic. This claim was made in a letter dated August 26 to the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, where Zuckerberg expressed regret for not addressing the issue sooner.

The pressure, according to Zuckerberg, stemmed from White House requests to remove misinformation related to the coronavirus and vaccines. In July 2021, President Joe Biden criticized social media platforms, including Facebook, for allowing vaccine misinformation, stating that they were “killing people.” Other officials, such as former White House press secretary Jen Psaki and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, also accused the platform of not doing enough to curb the spread of false information, which they argued hindered efforts to combat the pandemic.

At that time, Facebook stated it was taking “aggressive steps” to combat misinformation. However, despite these efforts, false information about vaccines continued to proliferate on social media.

In his letter to the Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg emphasized that Meta was “pressured” into censoring certain content, including humor and satire, and stated that the company would resist such demands in the future. He also noted that the Biden administration expressed significant frustration when Meta did not comply fully with their requests. The letter was shared publicly on the Judiciary Committee’s Facebook page.