WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, claims the Biden administration pressured his company to censor content about COVID-19 during the pandemic. In a letter to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee dated August 26, Zuckerberg expressed regret over not speaking up sooner about what he described as undue government influence over content decisions on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Zuckerberg’s letter, released by the Republican-led committee, comes amid ongoing scrutiny of social media companies’ role in moderating content. The tech executive alleged that in 2021, senior Biden administration officials repeatedly pressured Meta’s teams to remove or suppress certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, while expressing frustration when the company resisted. “I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote.
During the pandemic, the Biden administration frequently criticized social media platforms for allowing the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. In July 2021, President Biden said platforms like Facebook were “killing people” by permitting the circulation of false claims. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy also publicly pushed for more aggressive action against misinformation, stating that such content made it harder to combat the pandemic and save lives.
In response, Facebook announced it was taking “aggressive steps” to counter misinformation, including removing over 20 million posts deemed false and flagging hundreds of millions more for lacking context. Despite these efforts, the administration continued to call for stronger measures, which Zuckerberg now claims amounted to improper pressure to censor content.
Zuckerberg’s letter also addressed other controversial decisions Meta made during this period, such as the removal of content suggesting COVID-19 was a lab-created virus or that vaccines were unsafe. While these actions were initially justified by the prevailing consensus of leading health organizations, subsequent investigations and revelations, including a classified U.S. Department of Energy report and statements by FBI Director Christopher Wray, have suggested that some of the censored theories, like the lab-leak theory, warranted further examination .
In the letter, Zuckerberg criticized the administration’s approach, stating, “With the benefit of hindsight and new information, there were decisions we made in 2021 that we wouldn’t make today.” He emphasized that Meta has since revised its content moderation policies to avoid similar situations in the future.
Zuckerberg’s comments have quickly become a political flashpoint. The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Representative Jim Jordan, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, called Zuckerberg’s letter a “big win for free speech.” The committee posted the letter on its Facebook page, asserting that Zuckerberg had admitted to censoring Americans under pressure from the Biden administration.
Zuckerberg’s outreach appears to align with his recent efforts to appeal to conservative audiences, including praise for Donald Trump and appearances on right-wing podcasts. He has also vowed not to contribute to electoral infrastructure in the 2024 presidential election, a decision contrasting with his $400 million donation to support election infrastructure in 2020.
The White House responded to Zuckerberg’s claims, emphasizing that its actions were intended to protect public health during a deadly pandemic. “Our position has been clear and consistent: we believe tech companies and other private actors should consider the effects their actions have on the American people while making independent choices about the information they present,” a spokesperson stated.
The letter also revealed that the FBI had warned Meta about potential Russian disinformation involving Hunter Biden and Ukrainian energy company Burisma ahead of the 2020 election. As a result, Meta temporarily reduced the distribution of a New York Post story alleging Biden family corruption while waiting for fact-checkers to verify the claims. “It has since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” Zuckerberg admitted.
