Mark Zuckerberg is providing Republicans with political leverage as the 2024 presidential election approaches, responding to long-standing grievances from the GOP regarding his company’s policies.
Recently, the Meta CEO has made headlines with public statements that indirectly support right-wing narratives about “censorship” and referred to Donald Trump as “badass,” despite his claims of wanting to maintain a neutral stance.
On Monday, Zuckerberg addressed the influential House Judiciary Committee, alleging that the Biden administration had pressured Meta to censor content during the pandemic. He stated, “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 humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree.”
He expressed that the pressure was “wrong” and regretted not being more vocal about it. Trump’s campaign quickly seized the opportunity, using Zuckerberg’s letter to perpetuate claims about the 2020 election being rigged. He stated on his Truth Social platform, “Zuckerberg admits that the White House pushed to SUPPRESS HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY (& much more!) IN OTHER WORDS, THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS RIGGED.”
The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee responded positively to Zuckerberg’s letter, sharing it on social media to criticize President Biden and Vice President Harris, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president. Their investigation into major social media networks’ content moderation practices has been ongoing for two years.
“Mark Zuckerberg just admitted three things: 1. Biden-Harris Admin ‘pressured’ Facebook to censor Americans. 2. Facebook censored Americans. 3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story. Big win for free speech,” the committee posted on X.
Social media platforms typically reassess their content moderation strategies ahead of elections, and some experts believe they may have overstepped during the 2020 cycle. The choice to reveal such information to the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan—known for propagating the false stolen election narrative—is particularly significant.
Despite a Supreme Court ruling this summer stating that the federal government did not overreach by asking platforms to take down misinformation, Zuckerberg’s characterization of the White House’s actions as pressure aligns with Republican narratives. However, there have been instances where platforms restricted the spread of dangerous misinformation related to the pandemic or elections, actions taken during both the Trump and Biden administrations.
Recently, the platforms controlled by Zuckerberg and Trump ally Elon Musk removed many safeguards against viral misinformation, including allowing Trump’s return following his ban after the January 6 attack.
Furthermore, Zuckerberg, who previously contributed over $400 million to enhance voting access in the U.S., informed Jordan that he would not support election initiatives moving forward, citing Republican accusations that his donations, often referred to as “Zuckerbucks,” helped Biden secure critical battleground states.
“In retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” he said regarding the decision to temporarily limit sharing of the New York Post’s controversial story about Hunter Biden’s laptop, which he has expressed remorse over.
Despite the authenticity of the laptop’s contents, the Justice Department indicated that the New York Post’s reporting had echoed a false narrative pushed by Russian disinformation campaigns against Biden concerning Ukraine.
Zuckerberg’s disclosure comes on the heels of his comments to Bloomberg, where he described Trump’s response to an assassination attempt as “badass,” even after Trump threatened to imprison him if he regains the presidency. Zuckerberg remarked, “Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Overall, these comments suggest Zuckerberg is extending an olive branch to Republicans ahead of the election while providing them with political ammunition. He indicated that Meta has implemented changes to limit the political content reaching users, although the criteria for this categorization remain unclear. “I think you’re going to see our services play less of a role in this election than they have in the past,” he stated.