Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta META, has admitted that officials from the Biden administration have been exerting pressure on Meta staff to remove specific content from the platform.
What Happened: During an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast on Friday, Zuckerberg recounted instances where Biden administration officials aggressively confronted Meta staff over content removal requests. “Basically, these people from the Biden administration would call up our team and, like, scream at them and curse,” Zuckerberg shared with Rogan, the podcast host.
“It just got to this point where we were like, ‘No, we’re not gonna, we’re not gonna take down things that are true. That’s ridiculous,” Zuckerberg said.
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Zuckerberg also noted that Facebook occasionally complied with the White House’s requests but hinted that the platform would approach such decisions differently in the future.
Why It Matters: This is not the first time Zuckerberg has spoken about the Biden administration’s pressure on Meta. In August, Zuckerberg revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, senior Biden administration officials pressured Meta to censor certain content on its platforms. He expressed regret for not opposing the pressure sooner and acknowledged certain decisions made by Meta in removing content during that period.
Meanwhile, in November 2024, Zuckerberg reportedly met with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Earlier that year, Trump had threatened legal action against Zuckerberg if elected, accusing the Meta CEO of plotting against him while appearing friendly during visits to the Oval Office.
Last month, the Meta CEO also donated $1 million to support the inauguration events for President-elect Trump. This marked Meta's first contribution to an inauguration fund.
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