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Zuckerberg says he regrets caving to White House pressure on content


Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets that Meta bowed to Biden administration stress to censor content material, saying in a letter that the interference was “mistaken” and he plans to push again if it occurs once more.

Meta’s CEO aired his grievances in a letter Monday to the House Judiciary Committee in response to its investigation into content material moderation on on-line platforms. Zuckerberg detailed how senior administration officers leaned on the corporate to censor sure posts about Covid-19, together with humor and satire, and “expressed a variety of frustration” when the social media platform resisted.

“I consider the federal government stress was mistaken, and I remorse that we weren’t extra outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote. “I really feel strongly that we must always not compromise our content material requirements as a consequence of stress from any Administration in both route — and we’re able to push again if one thing like this occurs once more.”

Zuckerberg additionally expressed remorse for basically hiding content material associated to protection by the New York Post about Hunter Biden forward of the 2020 election that the FBI warned could have been rooted in a Russian disinformation operation.

“It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and looking back, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” he wrote.

Republicans on the committee, led by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, celebrated the letter in a protracted collection of posts on X, calling it a “huge win at no cost speech.”

The White House issued a press release defending the administration’s strategy to Covid-19 info.

“When confronted with a lethal pandemic, this Administration inspired accountable actions to guard public well being and security,” the assertion mentioned. “Our place has been clear and constant: we consider tech firms and different non-public actors ought to take note of the results their actions have on the American folks, whereas making unbiased selections in regards to the info they current.”

The letter is the most recent installment in a multi-year Washington argument in regards to the function of social media firms in suppressing content material pleasant to conservatives.

Once Elon Musk purchased Twitter (now X) in late 2022, turning the platform right into a haven for “free speech” and reinstating quite a few banned conservative posters, Zuckerberg grew to become a explicit goal of Jordan.

Like many on the proper, Jordan argued that the Biden administration unduly pressured social media platforms to take down content material on matters from Covid-19 to Hunter Biden’s laptop computer.

Jordan demanded in depth inner communications data from Meta and threatened a contempt-of-Congress listening to for the tech mogul earlier than de-escalating on the final minute, saying Meta had supplied the paperwork he requested.

Zuckerberg additionally mentioned he wouldn’t repeat contributions he made within the final presidential election cycle to fund election infrastructure, saying that though they had been supposed to be nonpartisan, some folks nonetheless interpreted the hassle as benefiting one get together or the opposite.

“My purpose is to be impartial and never play a job a method or one other — or to even seem like enjoying a job,” he mentioned. “So I don’t plan on making the same contribution this cycle.”

Steve Heuser contributed to this report.


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