Zuckerberg Admits Biden-Harris Admin Pressured Facebook to Censor COVID-19 Content

Clear Facts

• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the Biden-Harris administration pressured Facebook to censor certain COVID-19 content.
• Zuckerberg expressed regret for not being more outspoken against government pressure and acknowledged mistakes in content moderation.
• The House Judiciary Committee is investigating the extent of the executive branch’s influence on private companies to suppress speech.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has revealed that Facebook faced significant pressure from the Biden-Harris administration to censor specific COVID-19 content. This admission came in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, following the provision of thousands of documents to the committee as part of an ongoing investigation into content moderation practices on online platforms.

In his letter, Zuckerberg emphasized Meta’s cooperation with the investigation, noting that the company has provided numerous documents and made a dozen employees available 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.

He continued, “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.”

Zuckerberg disclosed 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.”

When Facebook did not comply with the censorship demands, the Biden administration expressed considerable 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.”

He also reflected on the decisions made under pressure, admitting, “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.”

The House Judiciary Committee first subpoenaed Meta for documents and information on February 15, 2023. The committee’s investigation aims to determine whether the executive branch pressured or collaborated with private companies to suppress certain types of speech, potentially violating the First Amendment.

In his letter, Zuckerberg also addressed the throttling of the Hunter Biden laptop story, revealing that the FBI had warned Facebook about “a potential Russian disinformation operation” related to the Biden family and Burisma ahead of the 2020 election. This led to the temporary demotion of a New York Post story reporting on corruption allegations involving Biden’s family while awaiting fact-checker review.

“It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” Zuckerberg wrote.

“We’ve changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again – for instance, we no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers.”

The White House has been contacted for comment on these allegations, while Facebook declined to comment beyond the contents of Zuckerberg’s letter.

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