Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms Inc. and founder of Facebook, expressed regret in a recent letter to Congress about not standing up against the Biden administration’s requests to censor certain COVID-19 related posts during the pandemic. The remarks were made in an August 26 letter to Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
Peter Kafka, chief correspondent for Business Insider, discussed the implications of Zuckerberg’s letter on ABC News’ podcast “Start Here.” Zuckerberg admitted that during 2020 and 2021, the Biden White House had reached out to Facebook with requests to remove content related to COVID-19, some of which the platform complied with and later regretted.
Zuckerberg’s letter acknowledged that Facebook should not have been pressured by the White House and that some of the content they removed would have been better left up. He also addressed a past incident involving the New York Post’s story about Hunter Biden’s laptop, noting that Facebook made it difficult to find the article due to its unverified nature at the time, a decision he now deems inappropriate.
Additionally, Zuckerberg mentioned that through the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, he and his wife contributed about $400 million in 2020 to promote safe voting during the pandemic. He stated that this donation has been politically weaponized by Republicans, causing him to decide against similar efforts in the absence of a pandemic.
Kafka highlighted Zuckerberg’s unusual stance, suggesting that the tech community has been grappling with its relationship with government and policy influences as they have transitioned from a hands-off approach to increased moderation of content. He speculated that Zuckerberg’s letter might be an attempt to appease critics and provide a means to move past ongoing allegations of bias in tech. The discussion also pointed toward the broader debate about content moderation on major platforms, illustrating the challenges tech companies face in navigating legal liabilities while trying to maintain free speech.