Meta CEO Reveals Government Pressure Over Content Moderation

According to BlockBeats, on August 27, Meta's founder and CEO acknowledged that the Biden administration had pressured his team to censor content on the platform. Zuckerberg stated that in 2021, senior officials from the Biden administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured Meta's team to censor certain COVID-19-related content, including humorous and satirical material. When Meta disagreed, the officials expressed significant frustration. Ultimately, the decision to remove content was Meta's, and they took responsibility for their decisions, including modifications to COVID-19-related content under such pressure. Zuckerberg expressed regret for not being more outspoken against the government's pressure, stating that he believed it was wrong. He also acknowledged that some decisions made at the time, in hindsight and based on new information, should not have been made. He emphasized to his team that Meta should not compromise its content standards due to any government pressure. In another instance, the FBI warned Meta about potential Russian disinformation operations related to the Biden family and Burisma ahead of the 2020 election. When the New York Post published a report alleging corruption involving then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's family, Meta sent the report to fact-checkers for review and temporarily reduced its distribution weight while awaiting feedback. It later became clear that the report was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, Meta should not have reduced its distribution weight. Meta has since revised its policies and processes to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.