In a candid admission, Mark Zuckerberg has finally broken his silence.
In the latest crypto news, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has expressed deep regret over Facebook’s decision to censor COVID-19 content during the pandemic, revealing that the platform was “pressured” by the Biden administration to take these actions.
On August 26, Zuckerberg sent a letter to Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, addressing concerns about social media content moderation as part of an ongoing investigation.
In the letter, Zuckerberg alleged that top officials from the Biden administration “repeatedly pressured” Facebook to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, in 2021. He acknowledged that although it was ultimately Meta’s decision to censor the content, the team made choices that they wouldn’t make today, with the benefit of “hindsight and new information.”
“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.”
In the same letter, Zuckerberg also expressed regret over the decision to demote a story involving Russian disinformation and Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020 while waiting for fact-checkers. The platform faced significant criticism for its actions, and Zuckerberg noted that policies have since been updated to prevent a similar situation in the future.
As per the latest news in cryptocurrency, the letter has sparked a strong reaction from advocates of decentralization and free speech on social media platform X. Gabor Gubacs, Director of Digital Asset Strategy at VanEck, shared the letter and expressed support for Zuckerberg’s public admission, calling for the investigation and trial of officials who pressured media companies to censor users.
On the other hand, US Senator for Utah, Mike Lee, questioned why Zuckerberg’s regret didn’t come sooner.
Meanwhile, fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk reiterated that his platform, X, is meant to support all viewpoints within the bounds of the law. He acknowledged Zuckerberg’s admission as a positive step forward.
