Nandini Roy Choudhury, writer
Brief news
- Mark Zuckerberg claimed that the Biden Administration pressured Facebook to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire.
- Zuckerberg expressed regret for some of the decisions made in response to government requests and stated that Meta would not compromise its content standards in the future.
- The ongoing debate about the moderation of content by social media companies is highlighted by Zuckerberg’s letter.
Detailed news
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of the social media company, claimed that the company was trying to “censor” content related to Covid-19. He also expressed regret for some of the decisions made in response to the U.S. government’s requests.
Zuckerberg wrote in a letter to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee that 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 great deal of frustration with our teams when we did not agree.
The letter was published on Monday on the committee’s Facebook page and its account on the X social media platform.
The letter’s authenticity was verified by a Meta spokesperson for CNBC.
Zuckerberg stated that Meta’s ultimate decision to remove any content was up to them; however, he also expressed his conviction that the purported “government pressure” was inaccurate.
“I am sorry that we were not more publicly vocal about it,” Zuckerberg stated.
The White House was contacted by NBC News for comment on Tuesday morning, but a response was not received immediately.
“This Administration promoted responsible measures to safeguard public health and safety when faced with a lethal pandemic,” the White House stated in a statement to Politico.
“We have maintained a consistent and unambiguous stance: we maintain that tech companies and other private actors should consider the consequences of their actions on the American populace while making independent decisions regarding the information they provide,” it continued.
Zuckerberg stated that Meta made certain decisions that, “in the light of new information and hindsight,” the technology company would not repeat.
“As I previously mentioned to our teams, I am adamant that we should not compromise our content standards in response to pressure from any Administration, regardless of its direction. We are prepared to respond if this occurs again,” Zuckerberg stated.
In August 2021, Facebook announced that it had removed over 20 million posts related to Covid-19 from its primary social networking site and Instagram due to violations of its content policies.
The White House criticized social media companies, such as Facebook, for allowing misinformation regarding the coronavirus to circulate on their platforms that year.
The ongoing debate regarding the extent to which social media companies should moderate content is emphasized by Zuckerberg’s letter.
The House Judiciary Committee, which is presided over by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has made allegations that major technology companies conspired with the government to suppress speech.
Zuckerberg also addressed his stance on the forthcoming U.S. presidential election, emphasizing that he contributed to electoral infrastructure through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative during the previous election cycle. He stated that he will not be engaging in that activity during the forthcoming election.
“My objective is to maintain an impartial stance and refrain from taking an active role in any way — or even from appearing to take an active role,” Zuckerberg said.
Source : CNBC News
