Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the House Judiciary Committee in a letter that the White House repeatedly pressured the social media giant for months to censor “certain Covid-19 content,” something he believes is wrong and is prepared to resist if it happens again.
The epistle is a boon for House Republicans, who are quick to believe that social media censors voices on the right. The Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan called it “a big win for free speech” with three takeaways: “1) Biden Harris. Admin pressured Facebook to censor Americans. 2) Facebook censored Americans. 3) Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story.”
Facebook and other platforms demoted or killed a 2020 New York Post story about data found in a laptop that Hunter Biden had left to be repaired. Zuckerberg said the FBI had warned Meta of a Russian disinformation operation about the Biden family.
“We made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” Zuckerberg said. “We no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S. while waiting for fact checkers.”
A White House comment to AP regarding his Covid comments in the letter read: “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.”
His letter also said that his family foundation the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will not donate to election integrity efforts in the upcoming race like it did — to the tune of $400 million — in 2020.
“I know that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other,” he wrote. “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another – or to even appear to be playing a role. So I don’t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle.
