Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms will continue to use so-called “fact-checkers” to censor content, despite a pledge from CEO Mark Zuckerberg to end censorship.
In a bombshell letter to Congress on Monday, Zuckerberg admitted that his company, Meta, was pressured by the Biden-Harris administration to censor Americans on Facebook and Instagram.
The censorship demands were particularly regarding COVID-19 content, Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg admitted that censoring content was wrong and vowed to end the practice.
However, Meta has no intention of terminating the use of its “fact-checkers” – an independent cottage industry responsible for censoring the information flow.
In recent years, these “fact-checkers” have unfairly targeted conservative viewpoints, leading to many fleeing Facebook for more free speech-focused alternatives such as Gab, Truth Social, or Elon Musk’s X.
According to Meta, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads will continue to “work with independent third-party fact-checking organizations.”
“We’re committed to fighting the spread of misinformation on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads,” Zuckerberg’s company asserts.
Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook has been censoring content for the White House in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH).
The letter comes more than a year after providing the committee with thousands of documents as part of its investigation into content moderation on online platforms.
Zuckerberg says that, along with documents, the company has provided a dozen employees to be available for transcribed interviews, stressing Meta’s cooperation with the investigation.
“There’s a lot of talk right now around how the U.S. government interacts with companies like Meta, and I want to be clear about our position,” Zuckerberg wrote.
“Our platforms are for everyone – we’re about promoting speech and helping people connect in a safe and secure way.
“As part of this, we regularly hear from governments around the world and others with various concerns around public discourse and public safety.”
In 2021, Zuckerberg told Jordan that “senior officials” from the Biden administration and White House “repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire.”
When Facebook did not agree with the censorship, the Biden administration expressed a lot of frustration, Zuckerberg said.
“Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure,” Zuckerberg wrote.
“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.
“I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” he added.
“Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards to pressure from any Administration in either direction – and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens.”
The committee first subpoenaed Meta for documents and information on Feb. 15, 2023, related to content moderation and Meta’s engagements with the executive branch to censor speech.
At the time, the committee was investigating whether, and to what extent, the executive branch pressured or worked with private companies to stifle or tamp down certain kinds of speech at the request of the government.
Those censorship efforts by the White House could potentially be a violation of the First Amendment.
In Monday’s letter, Zuckerberg also wrote about throttling the Hunter Biden laptop story.
The Big Tech boss wrote that the FBI warned his company about “a potential Russian disinformation operation” regarding the Biden family and Burisma, leading up to the 2020 election.
Zuckerberg said a New York Post story that fall reported on corruption allegations involving Biden’s family, so they had “fact-checkers” review the story.
However, Facebook censored the story while the company waiting for “fact-checkers” to falsely claim the story was “misinformation.”
“It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” Zuckerberg wrote.
“We’ve changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again – for instance, we no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers.”
BREAKING: Mark Zuckerberg just admitted to working with Biden/Harris admin to censor Americans.
— Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) August 27, 2024
He either admitted to this because:
1. He’s being honorable
2. He’s done with the Dem party
3. He’s getting ahead of a whistleblower
Either way this is a VERY HARD letter to write. pic.twitter.com/y64cOQjY15
However, despite Zuckerberg’s promise to change “policies and processes,” censorship will always be rife on Facebook for as long as Meta employees corrupt “fact-checkers” to filter the information flow.
The First Amendment does not assert that free speech is only allowed once it’s been approved by left-wing “fact-checkers.”
