Biden

Elon Musk

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has alleged that Facebook was “pressured” by the Biden administration to censor COVID-19 content during the pandemic and said that he regrets complying with those demands. 
On Aug. 26, the tech billionaire <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/JudiciaryGOP/status/1828201780544504064" rel="null" target="null" text="null">sent</a> a letter to United States Representative Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, regarding concerns about content moderation on <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/how-to-identify-crypto-scam-ads-on-social-media" rel="null" target="null" text="null">social media</a> platforms in an ongoing investigation.
He claimed that senior officials from President Joe Biden’s administration “repeatedly pressured” the company to censor certain&nbsp;<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-up-1-800-after-2020-covid-19-btc-price-crash" rel="null" target="null" text="null">COVID-19</a>&nbsp;information, “including humor and satire,” in 2021.&nbsp;
He said that, ultimately, it was the Meta team’s <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/the-future-of-online-communication-secure-and-censorship-resistant-chat-on-blockchain" rel="" target="_self" text="null">decision to censor content</a>, but he added that the team made some choices that they wouldn’t have made today with the benefit of “hindsight and new information.”
<blockquote>
 “I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.”&nbsp;
</blockquote>
He added, “I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any administration in either direction.”&nbsp; 
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 <img alt="Mark Zuckerberg says he ‘regrets’ bowing to COVID-19 censorship pressure" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-08/019191c7-4763-70b0-9a38-6ba805ab2168">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Snippet of Mark Zuckerberg’s letter to Jim Jordan. Source: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/JudiciaryGOP/status/1828201780544504064" rel="null" target="null" text="null">House of Representatives Judiciary Committee</a>
 </figcaption>
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In the same letter, the Meta CEO also said he regretted demoting a story involving alleged Russian disinformation and Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020 while waiting for fact-checkers. 
He said the platform was scrutinized at the time for the censorship, and its policies have since been changed to prevent a recurrence.&nbsp;
Cointelegraph reached out to the White House for comment.
Meanwhile, the letter garnered quite a reaction from decentralization and free-speech advocates on X.&nbsp;
 Gabor Gubacs, director of Digital Asset Strategy at VanEck, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/gaborgurbacs/status/1828206570150187390" rel="null" target="null" text="null">shared</a> the letter in a post on X and said he was glad Zuckerberg made this public:&nbsp;
<blockquote>
 “Every official who illegally pressured media companies to censor their users should be named, investigated, and tried in court.”
</blockquote>
“People had enough. The government doesn’t control speech. The earth isn’t a prison and they aren’t our wardens,” he added. 
Meanwhile, US Senator Mike Lee&nbsp;<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/BasedMikeLee/status/1828215010608456167" rel="null" target="null" text="null">asked</a>, “Who else wishes Mark Zuckerberg’s regret had kicked in before the damage was done — rather than years later?”
 Charlie Kirk, the founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1828212029603356850" rel="null" target="null" text="null">told</a> his 3.3 million X followers that “we should root for our American industry leaders to get this stuff right,” adding:&nbsp;
<blockquote>
 “It’s appropriate not to trust and be skeptical given what’s happened, but I would be overjoyed to watch Zuckerberg emerge as a free speech champion.”
</blockquote>
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-calls-open-source-meta-releases-llama-3-1" rel="null" target="null" text="null">Mark Zuckerberg calls for open-source AI as Meta releases Llama 3.1</a>
Fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk reiterated that his <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/what-is-elon-musks-x-the-everything-app" rel="" target="_self" text="null">social media platform, X</a>, “really is meant to support all viewpoints within the bounds of the laws of countries.”
He added that Zuckerberg’s confession of regret was “a step in the right direction.”&nbsp;
<figure>
 <img alt="Mark Zuckerberg says he ‘regrets’ bowing to COVID-19 censorship pressure" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-08/019191c8-6a9a-7694-8d75-f914812b5abd">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Source: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1828238907340718467" rel="null" target="null" text="null">Elon Musk</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
In April, Cointelegraph reported that Wikipedia <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/wikipedia-censor-data-us-elections-covid" rel="" target="_self" text="null">allegedly fought against disinformation</a> around the COVID-19 pandemic, but critics have labeled it as censorship.
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/algorithm-choice-can-fix-social-media-but-only-on-decentralized-platforms/" rel="" target="_self" text="null">Dorsey’s ‘marketplace of algorithms’ could fix social media… so why hasn’t it?</a>
 
&nbsp;

Mark Zuckerberg says he ‘regrets’ bowing to COVID-19 censorship pressure

Cointelegraph

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