Mark Zuckerberg wrote a letter to the House Judiciary committee on Monday, August 26, claiming that President Joe Biden‘s administration “pressured” his company, Meta, in 2021 to “censor certain COVID-19 content.” The 40-year-old businessman’s letter pointed out that there has been “a lot of talk right now around how the U.S. government interacts with companies like Meta.”
“Our platforms are for everyone — we’re about promoting speech and helping people connect in a safe and secure way,” the Facebook co-founder wrote. “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.”
Zuckerberg continued in his letter, “Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any administration in either direction – and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.”
WHAT? Mark Zuckerberg just TOLD ON HIMSELF?! pic.twitter.com/ek4tq85Z3m
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) August 27, 2024
The controlling shareholder of Meta also insisted that he intends to remain “neutral” when it comes to politics.
“My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another — or even appear to be playing a role,” Zuckerberg concluded. “So, I don’t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle.”
President Biden, 81, has not publicly commented on Zuckerberg’s claims. However, a spokesperson from the White House responded to the letter in a statement, according to CNN.
“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 spokesperson said, adding that the administration was encouraging “responsible actions to protect public health and safety” in 2021.
GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee shared Zuckerberg’s letter to X (formerly known as Twitter), and wrote that he “just admitted three things,” calling the letter a “big win for free speech.”
“1. [The] Biden-Harris Admin ‘pressured’ Facebook to censor Americans,” the GOP members tweeted. “2. Facebook censored Americans. 3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story.”