This week Mark Zuckerberg sent a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) detailing how the Biden administration pressured his company to “censor” free speech on Facebook — specifically misinformation about Covid-19. The letter also mentions Hunter Biden’s laptop and Zuckerberg’s lack of plans to spend money on the election. It sounds bad. But none of this information is new.
It’s interesting that Zuckerberg decided to dive into the free speech snake pit this week. It is not surprising that Republicans, who have been A book banning game In schools nationwide, old facts are being brought up as new revelations emerge in their ongoing quest to blame Democrats for censorship. It’s election season, and questioning reality is part of the fun.
As we enter the final two months before the election, there are Fewer rails for misinformation in place On major social media platforms, and by writing a letter about the Biden administration and censorship, Zuckerberg appears to be throwing a political grenade at Republicans, something the base could fire up and use to get angry about Democrats. In reality, though, Zuckerberg is probably trying to keep his company out of even hotter water Continue to rebuild his own public image.
To understand how Zuckerberg’s letter could do this, it helps to understand why he sent it to the Republic of Jordan in the first place.
Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has Single out The Meta CEO has alleged in an ongoing investigation that the Biden administration and tech companies have collaborated to censor free speech online. Jordan even threat Zuckerberg held in contempt of Congress for ignoring subpoena for documents. Zuckerberg seems rather forthcoming now.
In his letterZuckerberg acknowledged that the Biden administration pressured the company to “censor certain Covid-19 content, including jokes and satire,” and said the pressure was “misplaced.” Zuckerberg added that his company is “prepared to push back if something like this happens again.”
This is not news. The Biden administration pressed Meta and his competitors to crack down on Covid-19 misinformation throughout the pandemic. In 2021, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy Called it an “urgent threat”. And Biden himself said that misinformation is “killing people.” After a statement he walked back. This pressure was also at the center of a recent Supreme Court case, where Justice Dr Biden ruled in favor of the administration.
We also knew that Meta, then known simply as Facebook, had scaled back efforts to stop the spread of misinformation on its platform. Not long after Biden’s “killing people” comments, company documents were leaked revealed that Facebook knew Vaccine misinformation on its platform is undermining its own goal of protecting vaccine rollout and causing harm. It even studied the larger problem and produced several internal reports on the spread of misinformation, but despite pressure from Congress, Facebook Failed to share research with lawmakers in time
We actually learned about the White House’s particular pressure on Facebook a year ago, Thanks for the document You guessed it, the company went to Jim Jordan and the House Judiciary Committee.
The Biden administration later issued a statement Zuckerberg’s latest letter becomes public. It said, in part, “Our position is clear and consistent: We believe technology companies and other private actors should consider the impact of their actions on the American people when making independent choices about the information they present.”
But Zuckerberg’s letter didn’t stop at detailing the well-known crackdown on Covid misinformation. It also reminded the public of the time the Biden administration asked to slow the spread of a New York Post article about Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 election. Without mentioning any direct pressure from the government, Zuckerberg said in the letter, his company The laptop story degenerates When it conducts a fact-check. he In a 2022 interview, podcaster Joe Rogan said something similarWhen he mentioned that An FBI misinformation alert contributed to the decision to suppress the story. Twitter also suppressed the laptop story and its executives Denied that there was pressure To do so from Democrats or law enforcement.
Zuckerberg also made some donations to get-out-the-vote efforts in 2020 through his family’s philanthropic foundation. “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or the other — or even appear to be playing a role,” the billionaire said. “So I don’t plan to make a similar contribution this cycle.” House Judiciary Committee A tweet response“Mark Zuckerberg also told the Judiciary Committee that he will not spend money this election cycle. That’s right, no more juke-boxes.” Neither side mentioned Zuckerberg Also declined to contribute in 2022 cycle for the same reason.
The Right is claiming victory over Zuckerberg’s letter. Others simply wonder why on earth, in an otherwise quiet week in August, Zuckerberg bothered to remind us of all these familiar facts?
A theory comes up From Peter Kafka on Business Insider: “Zuckerberg carefully gave Jordan just enough to claim a political victory — but not put Meta in any more trouble while it defends itself against a federal antitrust lawsuit.”
To be clear, Congress is not behind the antitrust case. The lawsuit, which is dated 2021, comes from the FTC and 40 states, which say Facebook Illegally crushed competition While it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp, it must have been top of mind for Zuckerberg. Less than a month ago, a federal judge in a landmark antitrust case ruled against GoogleAnd called it monopoly. So distrust in Zuckerberg’s mind is almost certain.
It’s also possible that Zuckerberg was sick of the litigation that happened years ago and wanted to close the loop on something that caused his company so much grief. Also, accusations of censorship have been a distraction from his latest big mission: To create artificial general intelligence.
Zuckerberg according to his new style A newly recruited member of Gen ZOne who is future-oriented and patriotic in a way. For all we know, the contentious-seemingly ceasing letters to Congress are part of this reconstructed image and another way of reminding the world that he And do not want to join politics.
