{"id":2331628,"date":"2024-08-27T10:54:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T14:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/zuckerberg-says-facebook-helped-feds-on-censorship-campaign\/"},"modified":"2024-08-27T10:57:28","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T14:57:28","slug":"zuckerberg-says-facebook-helped-feds-on-censorship-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/zuckerberg-says-facebook-helped-feds-on-censorship-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Zuckerberg Says Facebook Helped Feds On Censorship Campaign"},"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\">16<\/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%2Fzuckerberg-says-facebook-helped-feds-on-censorship-campaign%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=2331628&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--><p>Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged \u2062that Facebook \u200dengaged in \u2062censorship at the behest of\u200d the federal government to suppress certain content, particularly\u200b during the COVID-19 pandemic and regarding Hunter Biden&#8217;s \u2062laptop. In a letter \u2063to the House Judiciary Committee, \u2062Zuckerberg\u2062 detailed how Biden administration \u200cofficials pressured \u200cFacebook to remove or limit specific\u2063 COVID-19-related posts, including satire\u200b and humor, and \u200cexpressed frustration when the \u200cplatform resisted these demands. He admitted that Facebook also suppressed\u200b stories about Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, based \u2063on information from federal\u2062 officials, asserting that the \u2064decision to limit such content\u2063 was ultimately Facebook&#8217;s responsibility. Zuckerberg expressed regret for\u2063 not being more vocal about this government influence, stating that changes \u2064have since \u200cbeen made \u2064to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/svb-collapse-house-to-hold-first-hearing-on-svb-as-lawmakers-remain-split-on-response\/\" title=\"SVB collapse: House to hold first hearing on SVB as lawmakers remain split on response\">avoid similar situations<\/a>\u200b in the future. Additionally, a recent Supreme Court ruling has provided legal backing for the federal government&#8217;s censorship activities.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted Facebook implemented a censorship regime to suppress American speech under pressure from the federal government.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Zuckerberg sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee outlining the myriad ways Facebook aided federal officials in a censorship campaign to crack down on dissident content related to the coronavirus pandemic and Hunter Biden&rsquo;s laptop in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn&rsquo;t agree,&rdquo; Zuckerberg wrote. &ldquo;Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Mark Zuckerberg just admitted three things:<\/p>\n<p>1. Biden-Harris Admin &#8220;pressured&#8221; Facebook to censor Americans. <\/p>\n<p>2. Facebook censored Americans. <\/p>\n<p>3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story. <\/p>\n<p>Big win for free speech. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ALlbZd9l6K\">pic.twitter.com\/ALlbZd9l6K<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; House Judiciary GOP &#127482;&#127480;&#127482;&#127480;&#127482;&#127480; (@JudiciaryGOP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JudiciaryGOP\/status\/1828201780544504064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Zuckerberg said he believes the government pressure campaign was inappropriate. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn&rsquo;t make today.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re ready to push back if something like this happens again,&rdquo; the tech CEO added.<\/p>\n<p>Zuckerberg also wrote that Facebook suppressed stories related to Hunter Biden&rsquo;s laptop in the final weeks of the 2020 election on behalf of federal officials within the FBI. That fall, the New York Post published a series of emails from an abandoned Delaware laptop which contradicted then-candidate Joe Biden&rsquo;s repeated claims of never speaking business with his son, &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2019\/08\/28\/biden-brother-business-2020-1476815\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">or with anyone else<\/a>,&rdquo; on the campaign trail. Emails show the former vice president had in fact <a href=\"https:\/\/thefdrlst.wpengine.com\/2020\/10\/14\/new-emails-show-joe-biden-lied-about-his-knowledge-of-his-sons-foreign-business-interests\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">met<\/a> with Hunter Biden&rsquo;s business partners.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We sent that story to fact-checkers for review and temporarily demoted it while waiting for a reply,&rdquo; Zuckerberg wrote. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn&rsquo;t have demoted the story.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn&rsquo;t happen again,&rdquo; the Meta CEO wrote to the Judiciary Committee. &ldquo;For instance, we no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>A Supreme Court decision handed down in June, however, greenlit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-threads-colluding-with-feds-to-censor-americans-like-facebook-did-judiciary-chair-jordan-asks-zuckerberg-for-answers\/\" title=\"Did Threads collude with feds to censor Americans, similar to Facebook? Jordan, Judiciary Chair, seeks answers from Zuckerberg.\">federal censorship regime<\/a> when justices ruled 6-3 in <em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/23pdf\/23-411_3dq3.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Murthy v. Missouri<\/a><\/em><\/em>  that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the government&rsquo;s programs suppressing citizen speech. Missouri leaders had challenged White House censorship operations, <a href=\"https:\/\/ago.mo.gov\/missouri-attorney-general-andrew-bailey-obtains-court-order-blocking-the-biden-administration-from-violating-first-amendment\/#:~:text=General%20Bailey%20and%20General%20Landry,Americans%27%20right%20to%20free%20speech.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">citing<\/a> &ldquo;over 1,400 facts from more than 20,000 pages of evidence exposing the vast censorship enterprise coordinated across multiples agencies within the federal government.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Zuckerberg had previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/26\/confirmed-fbi-colluded-with-big-tech-to-prevent-voters-from-learning-about-hunter-bidens-laptop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admitted<\/a> to colluding with FBI officials during the 2020 election during a podcast interview with Joe Rogan.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The FBI basically came to us and spoke to some folks on our team and was like, &lsquo;Hey, just so you know, you should be on high alert. We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda on the 2016 election. We have it on notice that basically there&rsquo;s about to be some kind of dump similar to that,&#8217;&rdquo; Zuckerberg said in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think it was 5 to 7 days when it was basically being determined whether it was false,&rdquo; he added, without disclosing which third parties conducted the network&rsquo;s so<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-trump-says-covid-19-resulted-from-accidental-lab-leak\/\" title=\"President Trump says COVID-19 resulted from \u2018accidental\u2019 lab leak\">-called fact check<\/a>. But &ldquo;fewer people saw it than would have otherwise.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan&#8217;s email newsletter <a href=\"https:\/\/socialjusticeredux.substack.com\/about\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook established a censorship system to limit American speech due to pressure from the federal government. In a letter sent to the House Judiciary Committee on Monday, Zuckerberg detailed how Facebook assisted federal officials in a campaign aimed at censoring dissenting content concerning the coronavirus pandemic and Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop during 2020. He stated, &#8220;In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including those at the White House, consistently urged our teams for months to censor specific COVID-19 content\u2014such as humor and satire\u2014and expressed significant frustration when we did not comply.&#8221; He emphasized that while it was ultimately Facebook&#8217;s decision whether or not to remove content, they take responsibility for their choices, including adjustments made in response to this pressure regarding COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>Zuckerberg admitted three key points: 1) The Biden-Harris Administration pressured Facebook into censoring Americans; 2) Facebook did indeed censor Americans; and 3) The platform limited coverage of Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop story. He expressed regret over not being more vocal about this issue and acknowledged that some decisions made would differ with current knowledge. &#8220;We are prepared to resist if similar situations arise in the future,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>He also mentioned that during the final weeks of the 2020 election, Facebook suppressed stories about Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop at the request of FBI officials. This followed reports by The New York Post revealing emails from an abandoned Delaware laptop contradicting then-candidate Joe Biden\u2019s claims about his business dealings with his son. Zuckerberg noted they had sent this story for fact-checking and temporarily reduced its visibility while awaiting feedback but later recognized it was not Russian disinformation and regretted demoting it.<\/p>\n<p>To prevent such occurrences in future, he informed the Judiciary Committee that policies have been revised so that stories will no longer be temporarily demoted while waiting for fact-checkers&#8217; responses.<\/p>\n<p>A Supreme Court ruling earlier this year supported federal censorship efforts by determining plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge government programs suppressing citizen speech. Missouri leaders had contested White House censorship actions based on extensive evidence revealing coordinated censorship across multiple federal agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, Zuckerberg had disclosed collaboration with FBI officials during a podcast interview with Joe Rogan regarding concerns over potential misinformation ahead of elections. He indicated there was a brief period where it was unclear if certain information was false but acknowledged fewer people saw affected posts than would have otherwise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":2331629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/46985049684_a5ade78596_k-e1724765880331.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[6371,4573,32857,32364,4576],"class_list":["post-2331628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-censorship","tag-facebook","tag-federal-government","tag-social-media","tag-zuckerberg"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/46985049684_a5ade78596_k-e1724765880331.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331628","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\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2331628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2331629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2331628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2331628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2331628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}