Politics
Biden Admin Pressured Facebook To Censor ‘Misinformation,’ New Documents Show
House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) revealed a number of documents that show how the Biden Administration applied pressure on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram to censor Americans accused of spreading “misinformation.”
Much like the “Twitter Files” released earlier this year, Facebook and Instagram were provided with lists of posts — including memes — that went against the Biden Administration’s narratives on COVID-19 and vaccine policies. “We are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House,” wrote one Facebook employee in an April 2021 email to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg.
In April 2021, a Facebook employee circulated an email for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, writing: “We are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House” to remove posts. pic.twitter.com/iDRV3Kk2oO
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023
In another April 2021 email, Facebook’s president for global affairs, Nick Clegg, wrote that a “list of the top 100 vaccine-related posts” was recently shared with the White House. The email further revealed that Andy Slavitt, a Senior Advisor to President Biden, was “outraged” that one particular widely shared post was not removed.
The post in question was a “vaccine discouraging” meme that suggested harmful vaccine side effects would lead to ads for class-action lawsuits in the future.
“I countered that removing content like that would represent a significant incursion into traditional boundaries of free expression in the US,” Clegg wrote, referencing his reply to Slavitt. “But he replied that the post was directly comparing Covid vaccines to asbestos poisoning in a way which demonstrably inhibits confidence in Covid vaccines among those the Biden Administration is trying to reach.”
What did the Biden White House want removed?
A meme.
That’s right, even memes weren’t spared from the Biden White House’s censorship efforts. pic.twitter.com/6BhDxTHsUi
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023
“To appease the Biden White House, talking points were drafted for Clegg,” Jordan wrote in a tweet. He then provided another example where the administration demanded that a post from former Fox News host Tucker Carlson be removed. In an effort to appease the White House, Facebook limited the post’s exposure by 50%.
A few months later in August 2021, Facebook changed its policies in order to aggressively censor “misinformation.”
But it wasn't just the White House.
Facebook also changed its policies in direct response to pressure from Biden's Surgeon General, censoring members of the “disinformation dozen.” pic.twitter.com/FvGuoqUlns
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023
