Mark Zuckerberg has described US government officials berating Facebook staff as they demanded the removal of content from the platform.
“Basically, these people from the Biden administration would call up our team and, like, scream at them and curse,” Mr Zuckerberg told podcast host Joe Rogan last week.
“It just got to this point where we were like, ‘No, we’re not gonna, we’re not gonna take down things that are true. That’s ridiculous.’”
It’s not the first time Facebook’s co-founder has said that administration officials tried to coerce the company into removing posts.
In a letter last August to Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Mr Zuckerberg claimed that the White House “repeatedly pressured” Facebook to remove “certain Covid-19 content including humor and satire”.
He also admitted that Facebook sometimes acquiesced, and “made choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today”.
The White House responded to his August letter by saying: “When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety. 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.”
On Joe Rogan’s show, Mr Zuckerberg gave as one example the fact that the government had asked Facebook to remove a meme showing Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at a TV screen advertising a class action lawsuit for people who once took the Covid vaccine: “They’re like, ‘No, you have to take that down. We said, ‘No, we’re not gonna take down humour and satire.’”
His podcast comments came days after Mr Zuckerberg announced that Meta would end its fact-checking programme and replace it with a community-driven structure similar to the Community Notes system on X. He also announced that Facebook and Instagram would relax rules related to political content.
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