Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) asserted the administration of US President Joe Biden pressured the company into censoring certain Covid-19 (coronavirus) content on its social media sites.
In a letter to a US congress committee earlier this week, Zuckerberg expressed regret over complying with the requests and explained Meta Platforms had made changes in its approach.
“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain Covid-19 content, including humour and satire and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree,” Zuckerberg wrote.
Zuckerberg stated the pressure “was wrong and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it”.
He explained with the benefit of hindsight and new information, Meta Platforms made some choices that it “wouldn’t make today”.
Zuckerberg stated Meta Platforms would resist if it faced the same demands again.
CNN reported a representative for the Biden Administration responded by stating it was encouraging “responsible actions to protect public health and safety” at the time.
“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 representative told CNN.
The letter is addressed to Jim Jordan, a Republican party member who leads the US House of Representative’s committee on the Judiciary.
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