Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made startling claims about the Biden administration's alleged pressure on Meta to remove content concerning Covid-19 vaccines. In a conversation with Joe Rogan, Zuckerberg stated that the administration pushed Meta "super hard" to censor posts that were true about vaccine side effects. He revealed that while vaccines have been largely positive, with tens of millions of lives saved worldwide during the pandemic, the U.S. government pressured Meta to take down posts discussing their side effects.
Zuckerberg did not specify which individuals from the White House were involved in these requests. However, he noted that the administration's efforts to control vaccine-related narratives extended to censoring content that questioned the vaccines' efficacy. This push from the Biden administration was reportedly communicated through indirect channels as Zuckerberg admitted, "I wasn't involved in those conversations directly."
"They pushed us super hard, to take down the things that were honestly were true," – Mark Zuckerberg
In the past, Zuckerberg has expressed criticism of the Biden administration's handling of Covid-related content. In a letter to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in August, he accused the administration of pressuring Meta to censor information related to Covid-19. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration acknowledged in 2021 that common side effects of Johnson & Johnson's single-shot vaccine included headache, fatigue, muscle aches, nausea, and fever.
Amidst this controversy, Meta announced a strategic shift to rely on community notes rather than external fact-checkers for content verification. This move comes as part of a broader strategy to foster transparency and engage its user base in curating information on its platforms.
"They basically pushed us and said, you know, anything that says that vaccines might have side effects, you basically need to take down." – Mark Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg's remarks arrive at a time when Meta has been making overtures toward appeasing President-elect Donald Trump. The company has contributed $1 million to Trump's inauguration and has made several moves indicative of its alignment with his administration's priorities.
"It's one of the things that I'm optimistic about with President Trump, is I think he just wants America to win." – Mark Zuckerberg
Additionally, Zuckerberg criticized the U.S. government's lack of support for its technology industry, suggesting that undue power has been left in the hands of international regulators. Over the past two decades, the European Union has fined technology companies more than $30 billion, underscoring his concerns about global regulatory pressures.