Aug 27 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O) , opens new tab CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the Biden administration had pressured the company to “censor” COVID-19 content during the pandemic, apparently referring to White House requests to take down misinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines.
In a letter dated Aug. 26, Zuckerberg told the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee that he regretted not speaking up about this pressure earlier, as well as other decisions he had made as the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp around removing certain content.
In July 2021, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, said social media platforms like Facebook “are killing people” for allowing misinformation about coronavirus vaccines to be posted on its platform.
Others like former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy publicly said the company was not doing enough to take down misinformation, and was making it harder to fight the pandemic and save lives.