Washington. executive Director Yuan, Mark Zuckerbergcriticized Pressures on Joe Biden’s Administration in 2021 Remove content from Facebook Related to Coronavirus disease The U.S. government said it would resist similar situations in the future, as detailed in a letter to the U.S. Congress on Monday.
In the letter, Facebook’s founder insisted that it was “wrong” for the government to censor pandemic-related content on its social network.
Zuckerberg wrote that the White House had “pressed our team for months to review some Covid-19 content, including humor and satire.”
“I think the pressure from the government was misplaced and I regret that we didn’t express that more directly,” he added.
The White House has defended its actions during the pandemic, which has killed more than a million people in the United States amid political battles over vaccines and efforts to limit the virus’s spread.
“As we face a deadly pandemic, my administration encourages responsible actions to protect public health and safety,” a White House spokesman said Tuesday.
“We believe that technology companies and other private actors should consider the impact of their actions,” he added.
Zuckerberg’s letter was addressed to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who has been critical of the tech mogul in the past and has been praised by Republicans.
“I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards in any way under pressure from any government, and we are ready to respond if something like this happens again,” Zuckerberg wrote.
Two months after a close presidential election drew widespread attention to misinformation online, Republicans played that card as a victory.
They posted this on the X account of this conservative-controlled committee, saying it was a “great victory for free speech.”
In recent months, Republican representatives in Congress have attacked social media and technology companies, claiming they suppress or censor conservative viewpoints.
Mark Zuckerberg has expressed regret for not being more vocal about government pressure during the pandemic. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP)
