Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, recently revealed that senior officials in the Biden administration pressured the company to censor certain COVID-19 content during the pandemic.
In a letter dated August 26, 2024, addressed to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg expressed regret for not speaking out earlier about the pressure and for some decisions Meta made at the time.
Zuckerberg stated that in 2021, White House officials repeatedly pressured Meta’s teams to censor content related to COVID-19, including humor and satire, and expressed frustration when the company did not comply. He admitted that with hindsight, some of the content removal decisions would not be made today.
The letter was addressed to Jim Jordan, the committee chairman, who later described the letter as a “big win for free speech.” In the same letter, Zuckerberg mentioned that he would not contribute to electoral infrastructure in this year’s presidential election to avoid influencing the November vote. This marks a shift from the 2020 election when Zuckerberg contributed $400 million to support election infrastructure, a move that drew criticism for alleged partisanship.
