Mark Zuckerberg sent a letter to the chair of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, saying his Facebook platform took pressure from the federal government to remove certain COVID-19 content from its site.
In his letter, Zuckerberg told Republican Rep. Jim Jordan "The White House repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content," including satirical and humorous posts.
"I believe the government pressure was wrong and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it," he wrote.
Zuckerberg seems to indicate that he's learned a lesson from the incident, and said Meta was "ready to push back if something like this happens again."
In 2020, Facebook and other companies agreed to fight COVID misinformation on their platforms. In 2021, the platform took steps to highlight known credible information about COVID vaccines from sources like the World Health Organization.
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A White House spokesperson told Scripps News in a statement: "When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety. 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."
A Supreme Court decision at the end of June addressed whether the federal government can contact social media companies about content moderation. The court's decision was that yes, the White House and other federal agencies can urge social platforms to remove content the government may view as mis- or disinformation.
