US government requested Facebook to suppress Covid-19 memes, Zuckerberg claims
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that officials from the Biden administration pressured Facebook to censor Covid-19 memes in 2021. Read Full Article at RT.com.
TroibNews 
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, discussed the pressures his platform faced regarding the censorship of satirical memes related to Covid-19 vaccines, revealing that officials "screamed and cursed" when Facebook initially resisted. During an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Friday, Zuckerberg seemed to attribute his company's censorship actions to government influence.
“I don’t think that the pushing for social media companies to censor stuff was legal,” he stated. “At some level, I do think that having people in the administration calling up the guys on our team and yelling at them and cursing and threatening repercussions if we don’t take down things that are true... it’s pretty bad.”
Zuckerberg elaborated that the ban on censorship outlined in the US Constitution does not pertain to "content moderation" by private entities, but emphasized that the First Amendment is applicable to government actions.
The specific content in question involved a meme featuring Leonardo DiCaprio’s character from Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,’ which suggested it could serve as an ad for a future class-action lawsuit concerning vaccine injuries.
President Joe Biden had made vaccine mandates a focal point of his Covid-19 strategy, notably declaring in July 2021 that social media was "killing people" by letting "misinformation" about vaccines circulate.
At the time, White House press secretary Jen Psaki disclosed that officials were actively "flagging problematic posts for Facebook," advocating for social media platforms to align their guidelines and policies to prevent users from facing bans on different sites for spreading misinformation.
The UK-based NGO Center for Countering Digital Hate claimed that the White House was using its research regarding "superspreaders" of misinformation as a basis for these actions.
In response to Biden and Psaki’s comments, Facebook noted their commitment to promoting vaccinations, claiming to have removed 18 million instances of “Covid-19 misinformation” and shadow-banning "167 million pieces of Covid-19 content" deemed false.
Recently, Zuckerberg announced the discontinuation of Facebook’s fact-checking program, calling it “too politically biased” and counterproductive. He commented, “What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far.”
Zuckerberg, who contributed over $400 million to support Democrats in the 2020 election, did not repeat that level of financial support in the following November. He also sought to reconcile with President-elect Donald Trump by visiting him in Florida and contributing to his inauguration fund.
When Rogan questioned him about the censorship of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story, which resulted in the newspaper facing restrictions on various platforms, Zuckerberg sidestepped the matter.
He mentioned that Meta provided “all the documents” related to censorship efforts to the House Judiciary Committee, and reported that Ohio Republican Jim Jordan prepared and released a related report.
“Well, they lost the election,” Zuckerberg replied when asked if anyone in the current administration faced accountability for these actions.
Mathilde Moreau contributed to this report for TROIB News
“I don’t think that the pushing for social media companies to censor stuff was legal,” he stated. “At some level, I do think that having people in the administration calling up the guys on our team and yelling at them and cursing and threatening repercussions if we don’t take down things that are true... it’s pretty bad.”
Zuckerberg elaborated that the ban on censorship outlined in the US Constitution does not pertain to "content moderation" by private entities, but emphasized that the First Amendment is applicable to government actions.
The specific content in question involved a meme featuring Leonardo DiCaprio’s character from Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,’ which suggested it could serve as an ad for a future class-action lawsuit concerning vaccine injuries.
President Joe Biden had made vaccine mandates a focal point of his Covid-19 strategy, notably declaring in July 2021 that social media was "killing people" by letting "misinformation" about vaccines circulate.
At the time, White House press secretary Jen Psaki disclosed that officials were actively "flagging problematic posts for Facebook," advocating for social media platforms to align their guidelines and policies to prevent users from facing bans on different sites for spreading misinformation.
The UK-based NGO Center for Countering Digital Hate claimed that the White House was using its research regarding "superspreaders" of misinformation as a basis for these actions.
In response to Biden and Psaki’s comments, Facebook noted their commitment to promoting vaccinations, claiming to have removed 18 million instances of “Covid-19 misinformation” and shadow-banning "167 million pieces of Covid-19 content" deemed false.
Recently, Zuckerberg announced the discontinuation of Facebook’s fact-checking program, calling it “too politically biased” and counterproductive. He commented, “What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far.”
Zuckerberg, who contributed over $400 million to support Democrats in the 2020 election, did not repeat that level of financial support in the following November. He also sought to reconcile with President-elect Donald Trump by visiting him in Florida and contributing to his inauguration fund.
When Rogan questioned him about the censorship of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story, which resulted in the newspaper facing restrictions on various platforms, Zuckerberg sidestepped the matter.
He mentioned that Meta provided “all the documents” related to censorship efforts to the House Judiciary Committee, and reported that Ohio Republican Jim Jordan prepared and released a related report.
“Well, they lost the election,” Zuckerberg replied when asked if anyone in the current administration faced accountability for these actions.
Mathilde Moreau contributed to this report for TROIB News
