Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has accused the Biden administration of pressuring his company to censor posts related to COVID-19 vaccine side effects. Speaking on a Podcast show ‘’The Joe Rogan Experience,’’ Zuckerberg stated that White House staff demanded to remove the content they considered objectionable, including a meme that has Leonardo DiCaprio in it.
The meme mentioned that people might have to receive compensation for COVID-19 vaccine-related side effects years later. Zuckerberg termed it as a political joke and said that Meta rejected the request and called it harmless humour.
Allegations of censorship
Zuckerberg also disclosed that Biden’s team used to regularly pressurize to remove factual information, including posts that were based on serious vaccine side effects like myocarditis. He further stated, ‘’The White House pushed super hard to remove the things that were honestly true.’’ Despite all this pressure, Zuckerberg said Meta avoided censoring content that was true, calling such demands ‘’ridiculous’’.
A turning point came when President Biden openly criticised social media platforms and pointed out that misinformation is killing people. Zuckerburg mentioned this resulted in careful inspection and thorough investigation of Meta, which he outlined as ‘’brutal.’’
On the same day as the podcast episode was released, Meta announced a crucial shift in its policy, ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and also eliminating its fact-checking teams.
The company also plans to launch community notes, under this feature users will be able to provide context to the posts, similarly to the way X (formerly Twitter) is using it.
Zuckerberg highlighted the objective behind this initiative is to make policies simpler and reinstate free expression. He credited that this move has been taken because of change in the legal landscape and growing distrust in the traditional media.
Rogan, is known vocal disbeliever of Covid vaccines, expressed shock at Zukerberg’s disclosure., particularly that the administration allegedly suppressed the information that could have helped out the people. He classified the demands as a ‘’massive overstepping’’ by the government.
Zuckerberg recounted Meta’s challenges, acknowledging the previous mistakes, like overreacting to media criticism during Trump’s 2016 election victory. He summarised that these experiences helped him in framing his current opinion on free expression.