Mark Zuckerberg Says White House Pressured Facebook to Censor 'Misinformation'

He says Biden officials asked the company to remove content regarding COVID-19

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted to censoring content on Facebook after being pressured by senior officials in the Biden-Harris administration.

In a letter to U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg said he regretted not being “more outspoken about” the pressure his teams received from the White House to remove content related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including humor and satire. Rep. Jerry Nadler, the Democratic ranking member, was copied on the letter. 

“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote in his letter dated Aug. 26. “I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today.” 

The House Judiciary GOP shared Zuckerberg’s letter in its entirety on X. 

Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash

Zuckerberg said the White House became frustrated with Facebook when his teams pushed back.

“Ultimately, it was our decision, and we own our decisions including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of the pressure,” the letter continued.

It is important to note that the House Judiciary Dems did not post Zuckerberg’s letter on X. 

On Tuesday, the White House defended its actions, saying that it “encouraged responsible actions” during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect the public.

“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,” the White House said in a statement to the Associated Press. 

You likely recall many people who shared COVID-19 information on Facebook were banned from the platform. 

Looking Back: Press Briefing on July 15, 2021

Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki praised the administration’s efforts to censor free speech while they also pushed people to get the so-called COVID-19 vaccine.  

"We’ve increased disinformation research and tracking within the Surgeon General’s office. We’re flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation,” Psaki told reporters on July 15, 2021. “We’re working with doctors and medical professionals to connect — to connect medical experts with popular — with popular — who are popular with their audiences with — with accurate information and boost trusted content. So we’re helping get trusted content out there." "So, we're helping get trusted content out there.

“We also created the COVID-19 — the COVID Community Corps to get factual information into the hands of local messengers, and we’re also investing, as you all have seen in the President’s, the Vice President’s, and Dr. Fauci’s time in meeting with influencers who also have large reaches to a lot of these target audiences who can spread and share accurate information,” she continued.

You can read the entire manuscript of the press briefing here.

More Censorship: Hunter Biden’s Laptop

Zuckerberg also told the Committee that during the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election, the FBI had warned Facebook about a “potential Russian disinformation operation against [Joe] Biden’s family and Burisma.”

In the fall of 2020, the New York Post broke the story about Hunter Biden’s laptop and the allegations of corruption within the Biden family. Zuckerberg said the story was “temporarily demoted” while they waited for a reply from fact-checkers. 

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

He said Meta has since changed its “policies and processes to make sure it doesn’t happen again — for instance, we no longer temporarily demote things on the U.S. while waiting on fact-checkers.”

Zuckerberg said he had contributed to electoral infrastructure during the previous presidential election but would not be making a similar contribution in an effort to be “neutral” during this election cycle.

The Takeaway

The Democratic party claims it is trying to save democracy. But it admittedly supports censoring the American people.

Social media and mainstream news outlets promoted the Biden administration’s narrative by supporting the idea that people should not be permitted to spread “disinformation.”

Now, we know much of the so-called disinformation, which didn’t align with the White House was, indeed, true. But, sadly, the narrative became so divisive that it tore apart families, destroyed friendships, and, in some cases, ended careers. 

The Biden administration and mainstream media told people that if they didn’t get the shot, they were responsible for those who died of COVID-19.

I also believe suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story impacted the 2020 election. Left-leaning media called the story fake news, knowing that it was true.

Regardless, of your beliefs, the U.S. Constitution guarantees every American the right to say whatever they want — whether it’s true, false, or flat-out stupid.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”