Aug 27, 2024 - Technology

Zuckerberg says Biden admin "pressured" Meta to censor COVID-19 content

Ivana Saric

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC. — Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 31. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday that the Biden administration was "wrong" to pressure the company to censor certain inaccurate content during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why it matters: Social media networks played a significant role in helping spread misinformation and vaccine hesitancy during the pandemic, with potentially lethal consequences for some Americans.

The big picture: In 2021, senior administration officials "repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content," Zuckerberg wrote in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee.

This included censoring "humor and satire," he added, noting that officials "expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn't agree."
"I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it," Zuckerberg wrote.
Meta wouldn't make the same decision today and would "push back" if presented with such a scenario again, he added.

Flashback: Zuckerberg told "Axios on HBO" in September 2020 that Facebook wouldn't treat anti-vaccination posts as COVID-19 misinformation.

By February 2021 the policy had changed, with the company saying it would take a tougher stance on certain content, including posts that questioned the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines.

State of play: In August 2021, Meta said it had removed more than 20 million pieces of content from Facebook and Instagram for violating the company's covid misinformation policies.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan issued subpoenas to a number of big tech firms in February, alleging the Biden administration had "colluded" with tech companies to censor free speech.
The White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

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Zuckerberg says Biden admin "pressured" Meta to censor COVID-19 content

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