From bbc.com
Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets bowing to what he calls pressure from the Biden administration to “censor” content on Facebook and Instagram during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a letter sent to a US House committee chair, he said some material – including humour and satire – was taken down in 2021 under pressure from senior officials.
The White House has defended its actions, saying it encouraged “responsible actions to protect public health and safety”.
Mr Zuckerberg also said his firm briefly “demoted” content relating to Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, ahead of the 2020 election, after the FBI warned of “a potential Russian disinformation” operation.
It later became clear that this content was not part of such an operation, Mr Zuckerberg said, and it should not have been temporarily taken down.
Mr Zuckerberg did not give further detail about the actions he regretted during the pandemic. At that time, his business removed posts for a variety of reasons.
Mr Zuckerberg said the decisions made were the decisions of his business, but that the “government pressure was wrong”.
He continued: “We made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today.”
Mr Zuckerberg said he and Meta would be ready to “push back” if something similar happened in the future.
His letter was addressed to Jim Jordan, the chair of the House judiciary committee, which has been investigating content moderation on online platforms. Republicans said the letter was a “big win for free speech“.
In a statement issued to the website Politico, the White House stood by its actions.
It said: “Our position has been clear and consistent: we believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present.”
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