Zuckerberg: Biden administration pressured Meta to censor coronavirus content

Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, said he had been pressured by senior officials in the Biden administration to censor content about the coronavirus outbreak during the pandemic. If it happened again, he said, he would fight back.

In a letter on Monday, Zuckerberg told the US House Judiciary Committee that he regretted not speaking out sooner about the pressure and some of the decisions made by the owners of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp regarding the removal of certain content.

In the letter, Zuckerberg said: "In 2021, senior Biden administration officials, including the White House, pressed our team for months to review some of our coronavirus content, including humor and satire. They expressed their dismay when we disagreed.

"I think the pressure the government is putting on us is wrong and I regret that we haven't been more vocal about our views. And I also think that with respect to some of the choices that we made at the time, with hindsight and new information, we would never have done that."

The letter was addressed to committee Chairman Michael Jordan, a Republican. In its Facebook post, the commission called the letter "a major victory for free speech," and Zuckerberg acknowledged that "Facebook censors Americans."

Zuckerberg also said in the letter that he would not contribute to local government campaigns in this year's presidential election. "My goal is to stay neutral and not play a role one way or another or even appear to be playing a role."

In the 2020 election, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the charitable foundation founded by the Zuckerbergs, donated $400 million to help local governments in the United States with election management during the pandemic. The move drew criticism and lawsuits from some groups, who called it partisan.