Zuckerberg on censorship

Ava Cai

August 30, 2024

Earlier this week, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms, accused the White House of ordering Facebook to censor its content regarding “misinformation” about Covid 19 in 2021. This accusation took the form of an open letter to Congressman Jim Jordan and included a summary of Biden’s laptop story and more. 

Although, by exposing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Zuckerberg is essentially throwing the Republicans a “political grenade” for them to use against the Democrats, many conclude that the CEO of Facebook is only attempting to rebuild his reputation and public image. The most important aspect to get out of Mark Zuckerberg’s letter is that it uncovers how Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have violated the First Amendment by censoring “misinformation”––including the humorous and the satirical. The government censoring big companies is not a new story in the 21st century, as it was a previous scandal exposed by Elon Musk via Twitter. Biden backed up his forceful censorship by claiming that the misinformation was “killing people”, which was later backed up by Facebook itself. Not long after Biden’s remark, Facebook admitted to knowing the misinformation’s negative effect on its platform users. 

In response to Zuckerberg’s letter to the White House, the Biden administration responded, “Our position has been clear and consistent: We believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people while making independent choices about the information they present.” Mark Zuckerberg’s letter was not solely targeted at the matter-of-fact COVID-19 issue on its widely recognized platform. In fact, Zuckerberg announced the instance when the FBI pressured social media companies to suppress the Biden laptop story, claiming that the story was part of a Russian disinformation campaign. To wrap it up, Zuckerberg reminds the White House and the public of his donations to make voting accessible in the 2020 election and how he will no longer repeat this generous cycle. 

Above all, the biggest question to ask is why Mark Zuckerberg is recalling these matter-of-fact, past events in the first place. Peter Kafka from Business Insider proposed, “Zuckerberg very carefully gave Jordan just enough to claim a political victory––but without getting Meta in any further trouble while it defends itself against a federal antitrust suit.” Another assumption being made is that Zuckerberg just wants to clear up things that have cost his company a fortune in the past.