White House ‘pressured’ Facebook to delete Covid-19 content, Zuckerberg claims 

No humor, satire

In the letter, Zuckerberg stated that in 2021, senior White House officials in Joe Biden’s administration “repeatedly pressured” Meta to “censor certain Covid-19 content,” including humor and satire. 

He said the officials “expressed a lot of frustration” when the company disagreed.

“Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take down the content, and we own our decisions, including Covid-19-related changes we made to our reinforcement in the wake of this pressure,” Zuckerberg added. 

“I believe the government pressure was wrong and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote in the letter dated August 26, 2024.

Misinformation alerts

During the pandemic, Facebook added misinformation alerts for users who commented on or liked posts containing false Covid information.

The company deleted posts criticizing Covid vaccines and suggesting the virus was developed in a Chinese laboratory.

In the 2020 US presidential election campaign, Biden accused social media platforms such as Facebook of “killing people” by allowing disinformation about coronavirus vaccines to be posted on their platforms.

“I think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” Zuckerberg said. “I regret we were not more outspoken about it.

“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 are ready to push back if something like this happens again.”

FBI also involved

Zuckerberg stated that Facebook “temporarily demoted” a story about the contents of a laptop owned by Hunter Biden, the president’s son after the FBI alerted them to Russia’s preparation of a disinformation campaign against the Bidens.

Zuckerberg wrote that it has since become clear that the story was not disinformation and that, “in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story.”

The House Judiciary Committee, which Republicans control, called Zuckerberg’s admissions a “big win for free speech” in a post on the committee’s Facebook page.

The White House defended its actions during the pandemic, saying it encouraged “responsible actions to protect public health and safety.”

“Our position has been clear and consistent,” it said. “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.”

Favouring Trump?

Zuckerberg has tried to change the company’s perception on the right, going on podcaster Joe Rogan’s show in 2022 and complimenting Republican nominee Donald Trump’s response to an assassination attempt as “badass.” 

He sent the letter to the House Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Jordan, is a longtime Trump ally.

Zuckerberg also said he would no longer donate money to widen election access for voters through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the company that runs the philanthropy for him and his wife, Priscilla Chan.

The couple previously donated $400 million to help local election offices prepare for voters in the 2020 presidential election. 

The funds were used for protective equipment to prevent the spread of the coronavirus at polling sites, drive-thru voting locations, and equipment to process mail ballots.

“I know that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other” despite analyses showing otherwise, he said. “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.”