Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has claimed that the firm was coerced by the US government into censoring Covid-19 content during the worldwide pandemic and he regrets accepting their demands.
“In 2021, Biden administration officials, including from the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to remove specific Covid-19 content such as jokes and satires,” Zuckerberg said in a letter to the Committee on the Judiciary of the US House of Representatives. But we controlled the removal process of contents according to Meta. However, he adds “government pressure was inappropriate and I am sorry that we did not object more strongly.”
During this time of global pandemic Facebook’s actions caused immense controversy because it censored some posts which were regarded as containing false information pertaining to the virus or violating its rules. Overall, Facebook removed more than twenty million pieces of content in just over one year. In his view though, Mark Zuckerberg joins other social media executives like Jack Dorsey (once Twitter CEO) who regretted having moderated earlier discussions on-line way too much.
There are increasing arguments worldwide about what extent social media companies should play in censoring posts, comments, images and other content created by their users. On one hand, some platforms argue that they should not intervene when it comes to dictating what their consumers share or say online; on the other side of the coin, some governments are of the opinion that too much hands-off attitude breeds criminality. Over the weekend, French officials arrested Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov alleging his company’s poor handling of crime on its messaging app including child pornography.
Also this week in New York Mark Zuckerberg is adopting a neutral pose ahead of forthcoming presidential elections which will pit Vice President Kamala Harris against former head Donald Trump. ‘My aim is to be neutral and not take any sides – or at least pretend.’ That was written by Zuckerberg himself in an email message posted on Facebook page for House Judiciary Committee and later verified by Meta. He made these remarks with regards to donations given during the last election cycle to help fund electoral infrastructure.
