Mark Zuckerberg Says Biden Officials Were ‘Wrong’ To Pressure Meta To ‘Censor’ COVID Posts

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday said he regrets not speaking out more forcefully about the pressure his company received from President Joe Biden’s administration to “censor” content related to the COVID pandemic, adding that he would push back against similar efforts in the future.

In a letter addressed to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which published the correspondence in full on its social media accounts, Zuckerberg said senior officials in Biden’s administration, including the White House, repeatedly urged the company “to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and 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.

“Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again,” he continued.

In a statement, the White House said their administration “encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety” during the height of the pandemic.

“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,” the White House said.

Zuckerberg also said the company shouldn’t have temporarily limited the distribution of a New York Post story about corruption allegations concerning Hunter Biden, the president’s son, in the lead-up to the 2020 election, which the FBI had