Elon Musk, the chief executive of X, has called revelations that the Biden administration pressured Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, to censor COVID misinformation a “violation of the First Amendment.”
In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan released last night, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the Biden administration was “wrong” to require Facebook to censor what they deemed “COVID misinformation” during the pandemic.
Zuckerberg, 40, vowed to fight Meta against any future attempts at censorship and also admitted the company had “degraded” stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
He wrote that the White House “repeatedly pressured our teams over months to censor certain content about COVID-19, including humor and satire, and expressed significant frustration with our teams when we did not agree.”
Elon Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, said the episode “sounds like a violation of the First Amendment,” in a post on X, his social media platform.
Elon Musk (pictured), CEO of X, called Facebook’s revelations a “violation of the First Amendment”
Zuckerberg admitted that Meta demoted stories about Hunter Biden (pictured, right, with his father Joe Biden) and his laptop.
Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) vowed not to give in to further pressure
Zuckerberg said the White House pressure was “misguided” and regretted “that we weren’t more forthright about it.”
Musk took to X to express his concerns following last night’s revelation.
He later said on X: ‘I just want to reiterate that this platform is really meant to support all viewpoints within the confines of the countries laws, even those of people I vehemently disagree with and personally dislike.
“If that doesn’t seem to be happening, please shout at me (ideally at X).”
Zuckerberg said the White House pressure was “misguided” and regretted “that we weren’t more forthright about this.”
“We made some decisions that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we would not make today,” he added.
“I firmly believe that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any administration in any direction, and we are ready to fight back if something like this happens again.”
A White House spokesperson previously told DailyMail.com in a statement that the Biden administration’s policy is to encourage Big Tech to act responsibly.
In a statement to X, Congressman Jim Jordan called the letter a “huge victory for free speech.”
Many Republicans believe that suppressing history led to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ victory
Zuckerberg also admitted that the company “should not have demoted” Hunter Biden’s laptop story ahead of the 2020 election.
‘In the face of a deadly pandemic, this Administration fostered responsible actions to protect public health and safety.
‘Our position has been clear and consistent: We believe that technology companies and other private actors must take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent decisions about the information they present.’
Meanwhile, a Meta spokesperson told the Washington Post that the letter spoke for itself.
This comes just two months after it was revealed that former intelligence officials were receiving active CIA payments under contract when they signed the letter falsely claiming Hunter Biden’s laptop was “Russian disinformation.”
Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell and former CIA Inspector General David Buckley were others, according to a startling new report from the House Judiciary Committee.
Morell was the one who organized the letter after a call from current Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He said he did it to give Biden a “talking point” in the run-up to the 2020 election, when Trump attacked him over the laptop that was later verified to be his son’s.
Zuckerberg also said Meta would not repeat what it did in 2020, funding nonprofits to finance local election efforts, which Republicans criticized as “Zuckerbucks.”
Zuckerberg wrote that the Biden White House “repeatedly pressured our teams over months to censor certain content about COVID-19, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we did not agree.”
According to the report, senior CIA officials were briefed on the letter before its publication and some expressed concern about the political nature of the letter.
“The signatories’ decision to leverage their former titles in the intelligence community to promote a narrative about interference in foreign elections inappropriately involved the (CIA) in domestic politics,” the report said, adding that it “underscores the potential dangers of a politicized intelligence community.”
The US free speech row comes as France faces its own escalating row, after French authorities arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.
Durov, 39, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet on Saturday night, after OFMIN, a French government agency responsible for protecting minors from violence, issued an arrest warrant for him.
He has been accused of facilitating organised crime, drug trafficking, fraud, cyberbullying and promoting terrorism on his platform, which has around 950 million users worldwide.
Musk also weighed in on Durov’s arrest, posting “#FreePavel” alongside a video of the Telegram CEO praising X in an interview with Tucker Carlson.
