Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has revealed that Facebook censored a story about alleged corruption involving President Joe Biden’s family due to pressure from both the White House and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
This disclosure came in a letter dated August 26, 2024, addressed to House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Republican Jim Jordan, and circulated on social media.
In the letter, Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook “demoted” a story that reported corruption allegations against the Biden family after receiving a warning from the FBI about potential Russian disinformation.
He explained, “In a separate situation, the FBI warned us about a possible Russian disinformation operation regarding the Biden family and Burisma in the lead-up to the 2020 election. That fall, when we saw a New York Post story reporting on corruption allegations involving then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s family, we sent it to fact-checkers for review and temporarily demoted it while waiting for their response.”
Zuckerberg also acknowledged that the story was ultimately confirmed not to be Russian disinformation, stating, “It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story. We’ve changed our policies and processes to ensure this doesn’t happen again; for instance, we no longer temporarily demote content in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers.”
Additionally, Zuckerberg addressed Facebook’s handling of COVID-19-related content, claiming it was influenced by pressure from the Biden administration.
“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed frustration when we didn’t comply,” he explained.
He added, “Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to remove content, and we stand by our choices, including the adjustments we made regarding COVID-19 content in response to this pressure.”
Zuckerberg expressed regret over these circumstances, stating, “I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we weren’t more communicative about it. With hindsight and new information, I think we would make different choices today.”
He emphasized that Meta should uphold its content standards regardless of pressure from any administration, asserting, “I strongly believe that we should not compromise our content standards under pressure from any administration and we are prepared to push back if something like this occurs again.”
Zuckerberg also announced that he would refrain from donating to election infrastructure this year, indicating a desire to maintain political neutrality.
As of this report, there has been no response from President Biden’s administration or the FBI regarding Zuckerberg’s allegations.
