{"id":1988831,"date":"2023-08-02T14:59:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T18:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-facebook-meta-suppressed-covid-19-info-pressured-by-white-house\/"},"modified":"2023-08-02T15:00:41","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T19:00:41","slug":"report-facebook-meta-suppressed-covid-19-info-pressured-by-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-facebook-meta-suppressed-covid-19-info-pressured-by-white-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook (Meta) suppressed COVID-19 information under White House pressure, says report."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freport-facebook-meta-suppressed-covid-19-info-pressured-by-white-house%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1988831&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"entry-content\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Facebook \u2064CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies remotely as U.S. \u200bSenator John Kennedy (R-LA) listens during a\u200d Senate Judiciary Committee\u200c hearing \u2062titled, \u201cBreaking the News: \u2062Censorship,\u2064 Suppression, and the\u2062 2020 Election\u201d on Capitol Hill\u2064 on November 17,\u200c 2020 in Washington, DC. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is also scheduled to testify remotely.\u200c (Photo by Hannah McKay-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>OAN\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/tag\/noah-herring\">Noah Herring<\/a><br \/>11:55 AM \u2013 Wednesday, August 2, 2023<\/h2>\n<p>According to internal communications \u2062that were leaked by an insider to The\u2063 Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Facebook removed content related to COVID-19\u200c due to pressure from the Biden administration. <\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1\" style=\"min-width: 320px; min-height: 50px;  text-align: center;\">  \t<script>  \t\tgoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1'); });  \t<\/script>  <\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-slot__ad-label\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>The emails \u2063show that Facebook executives \u200cdiscussed \u200dhow they removed users\u2019 posts\u2062 regarding information\u2062 of \u2062the origins of the pandemic that the Biden administration was looking to\u200d control.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cCan someone quickly remind me why \u2063we were \u2063removing\u2014rather\u2064 than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-white-house-pressured-facebook-to-censor-covid-posts-according-to-files-released-by-gop\/\" title=\"GOP releases files alleging Biden White House pressured Facebook to censor COVID posts.\">demoting\/labeling\u2014claims<\/a> that COVID-19 is man \u200cmade?\u201d\u200b asked Nick Clegg in a July 2021 email \u2062to colleagues.\u00a0Clegg is Facebook\u2019s president of global affairs. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Facebook platform rebranded and changed its name\u200b to Meta\u200c in\u200c October 28<sup>th<\/sup>, 2021. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cWe were \u2063under pressure from the administration and others to\u2064 do more,\u201d Facebook\u2019s\u200d vice president in charge of content policy responded,\u200d speaking of\u200c the\u200b Biden administration.   <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have done\u2062 it,\u201d\u200c the VP added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The conversation took place around August 2021,\u200b which was three months after the \u200bplatform reversed its ban\u200c on posts describing the COVID-19 virus as being man-made in the midst of\u200c increasing debates around\u2062 the \u2063virus\u2019s origin. <\/p>\n<p>The email, along with other internal company communications, were obtained by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, which is currently in the middle of an investigation regarding the\u2064 Biden administration\u2019s efforts to\u2062 censor American\u2019s free speech on social media. <\/p>\n<p>The White House claims that its discussions with social media \u2064companies were intended to promote the\u200b adoption of vaccines and \u200bother \u201cpublic-health goals.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cWe have consistently made it clear that \u200dwe \u2062believe \u2062social-media companies have a critical responsibility to\u200c take account of the\u2063 effects \u2063of\u200b their platforms that they have on the American people, while making independent decisions about the content of their platforms,\u201d White\u200d House press secretary \u200bKarine Jean-Pierre said at a Thursday press\u200c briefing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The emails that were viewed by\u2064 the WSJ date back to the spring \u2064and summer of 2021, when the White House was promoting a nationwide COVID-19 vaccine \u200bpush\u2062 to Americans. Part of that \u2062effort included a\u200c public and private\u200b campaign to \u200cget Facebook to regulate anti-COVID-19 vaccine information more aggressively. <\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration believed that many Americans were hesitant to get the new\u200c vaccines due to\u2062 information seen on\u2063 social media. \u200b\u201cThey\u2019re killing people,\u201d President Biden said \u2063that July. <\/p>\n<p>However, detractors argue that since \u200dthe COVID-19 shots\u200d were manufactured and \u200cdisseminated in less than a year, that was a major reason \u2064for their hesitation. Under normal \u2062circumstances, making\u200c a vaccine can take \u2062up to\u00a010\u201315 years, according to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medicalnewstoday.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Medical News Today<\/a>. \u2062 <\/p>\n<p>Following the president\u2019s comments, Facebook\u2019s\u2063 vice president\u200c crafted a memo\u200c that assessed the difference between Facebook\u2019s content policies and \u200dthe Biden\u2064 administration\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cThere is likely a significant gap between\u2063 what the WH\u2062 would like\u200c us to \u2063remove and what we are \u200bcomfortable removing,\u201d\u200d The \u200cvice president\u2063 said.\u2063 \u201cThe WH has previously indicated that it thinks humor should be removed\u2062 if\u200b it is premised on \u2063the vaccine \u200chaving side effects,\u2062 so we expect it would similarly want to see humor about \u200bvaccine hesitancy \u2064removed.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t \u2063see Mark in a million years being comfortable with\u200b removing that\u2014and I wouldn\u2019t recommend it,\u201d Clegg wrote in an email following \u200dthe vice \u200dpresident\u2019s remarks, referencing Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In some of the emails, Facebook\u2064 executives\u2063 described concern over the removal of\u2063 posts in which they argued could make people\u2062 less likely to get the shot. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cThere may be \u200crisk of pushing them further toward hesitancy by \u2063suppressing their speech\u2063 and making them feel marginalized\u2063 by large institutions,\u201d said one \u200cdraft memo to Facebook leadership, included in an April 2021 email.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>As Clegg prepared for his trip \u200dto meet with the \u200bU.S. surgeon general about\u200d vaccine misinformation in July \u20632021, he emailed his \u2062colleagues, \u201cMy sense\u200c is that our current course\u2014in effect explaining ourselves more fully, but not shifting on where\u2063 we \u2063draw the \u200blines\u2026is a recipe for protracted and increasing \u200dacrimony.\u201d <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cGiven\u2064 the bigger fish we have to fry with the Administration\u2014data flows\u200d etc\u2014that doesn\u2019t seem a great place for us to be, \u200bso grateful for any further creative thinking on how we can\u200c be responsive to their\u2064 concerns,\u201d he\u2063 added.  <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In \u200dAugust of the\u200d same year, Facebook executives emailed each other about the new changes to\u200b their COVID-19 \u2064policies. One of \u2064the changes increased punishments for users\u200b who\u200b broke these policies and had accounts on both Facebook and \u200cInstagram, according to\u200b the email. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Rep. \u2062Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)\u2064 said \u2063\u201cthese documents begin to reveal the pressure\u2063 that Facebook and other \u200csocial-media companies were under to alter their content-moderation policies \u200cand \u2062remove protected\u2064 speech to appease the federal \u2064government, particularly the Biden White House.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote data-service=\"twitter\" data-category=\"marketing\" data-placeholder-image=\"https:\/\/c3.oann.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/complianz-gdpr\/assets\/images\/placeholders\/twitter-minimal.jpg\" class=\"cmplz-placeholder-element twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This wasn\u2019t the Biden\u200d Admin&#8217;s first pressure\u200b campaign.<\/p>\n<p>In July 2021, FB\u2019s head of Global Affairs asked why FB had been \u2062censoring the COVID lab leak theory. The answer was clear: \u201cBecause we were under pressure\u2062 from\u200c the\u200b administration . . . We shouldn\u2019t \u200bhave done it.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XaUqlDhjOj\">pic.twitter.com\/XaUqlDhjOj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jim_Jordan\/status\/1684957664265031681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 28, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-service=\"twitter\" data-category=\"marketing\" async data-cmplz-src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cWhile these documents are \u2062jarring, they\u200c are just the beginning of the story,\u201d \u200dJordan continued. \u201cWe expect Facebook to continue to produce documents, and if not, contempt remains on the table.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Many \u200cDemocrats have accused the Republican-led investigation of bullying \u200cplatforms\u2064 like Facebook (Meta) into loosening its\u2063 content-moderation policies. <\/p>\n<p>They also blame Trump, without\u2063 any evidence, claiming that he participates in\u2063 a similar manner as the Biden administration, tampering with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/reason-to-celebrate-on-july-4-judge-struck-blow-for-freedom-against-biden-admin-big-tech-censorship\/\" title=\"July 4: Judge Strikes Blow for Freedom Against Biden Admin, Big Tech Censorship\">social media companies\u2019 policies<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Stay \u2064informed! \u2064Receive breaking news\u2063 blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/alerts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.oann.com\/alerts<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>In the \u200bsecond part of an exclusive interview, Oversight\u200b Committee member Representative Andy Biggs \u200dtells One America News after witnessing Devon Archer\u2019s \u2064<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/7-things-the-house-oversight-committee-should-ask-irs-whistleblowers\/\" title=\"7 Key Questions for IRS Whistleblowers by House Oversight Committee\">closed-door\u200b testimony<\/a>,\u200b he is convinced Joe Biden was \u201ctaking a cut\u201d of hunter\u2019s \u200dbusiness deals.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>Clearfield, Utah City Councilor Karece Thompson addresses his concerns\u2062 about Florida Governor \u2064Ron DeSantis\u2019 new African American history curriculum.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>Independent Journalist Jackson Gosnell weighs in\u200d on this week\u2019s top headlines:\u00a0Trump Indictment #3, Devon \u2064Archer Testimony, and details on\u00a0Death Lily Ledbetter\u2019s death in her Virgin Islands home.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>with Eric Scheiner<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>By Nette\u2064 Noestlinger, Matthias Baehr \u2062and Elizabeth Howcroft \u200cLONDON (Reuters) \u2013 \u200dWorldcoin will\u200b expand its operations \u200dto sign up more users globally\u2026 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>By Munsif Vengattil\u2063 BENGALURU (Reuters) -Taiwan\u2019s Foxconn will \u200binvest $600 million in two projects in Karnataka state in southern India to make\u2026 \u2063 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>By Yuvraj Malik (Reuters) -Apple is likely to report\u2063 a dip in iPhone\u2062 sales in the April-June quarter as shoppers held\u2063 out\u2026 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>By Aditya Kalra, Arpan Chaturvedi and Munsif Vengattil NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Social\u200c media platform X\u200d is seeking \u2062to quash an Indian court\u2026 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified remotely while U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) listened during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. The hearing, titled &#8220;Breaking the News: Censorship, Suppression, and the 2020 Election,&#8221; also featured Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey&#8217;s remote testimony. (Photo by Hannah McKay-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2055,"featured_media":1988832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[542],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1988831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oann"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1988831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2055"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1988831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1988831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1988832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1988831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1988831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1988831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}