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Zuckerberg Says Biden Administration Pressured Meta to Censor COVID-19 Content

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg
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Zuckerberg Says Biden Administration Pressured Meta to Censor COVID-19 Content

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said senior officials in the Biden administration had pressured his social media company to censor COVID-19 content during the pandemic, adding that he would push back if this were to happen again.
In a letter dated Aug. 26, Zuckerberg told the judiciary committee of the US House of Representatives that he regretted not speaking up about this pressure earlier, as well as some decisions the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp owner had made around removing certain content.
"In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn't agree," Zuckerberg wrote in the letter, which was posted by the Committee on the Judiciary on its Facebook page.
"I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret we were not more outspoken about it," he wrote. "I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn't make today."
The White House and Meta did not respond to a request for comment outside US business hours.
The letter was addressed to Jim Jordan, the chairman of the committee and a Republican. In its Facebook post, the committee called the letter a "big win for free speech" and said that Zuckerberg had admitted that "Facebook censored Americans".
In the letter, Zuckerberg also said he would not make any contributions to support electoral infrastructure in this year's presidential election so as to "not play a role one way or another" in the November vote.
During the last election, which was held in 2020 during the pandemic, the billionaire contributed $400 million via the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, his philanthropy venture with his wife, to support election infrastructure, a move that drew criticism and lawsuits from some groups that said the move was partisan.

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Orcas Ram Sailboat off Northwestern Spain, Vessel Towed to Shore

Although known as killer whales, endangered orcas are part of the dolphin family. (AP file)
Although known as killer whales, endangered orcas are part of the dolphin family. (AP file)
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Orcas Ram Sailboat off Northwestern Spain, Vessel Towed to Shore

Although known as killer whales, endangered orcas are part of the dolphin family. (AP file)
Although known as killer whales, endangered orcas are part of the dolphin family. (AP file)

Orcas rammed a sailboat off the coast of northwestern Spain and damaged the vessel's rudder, prompting the maritime rescue service to tow the boat ashore, the service said on Monday.

The incident was the latest in a series of boat rammings by orca pods off the coasts of Spain and Portugal. Scientists have yet to reach a consensus on the reasons for this recent behavior.

One of the sailboat's two crew members seriously injured her hand during the towing maneuver amid rough sea conditions and was evacuated by helicopter to hospital, the service said.

The boat, named Amidala, alerted the maritime rescue center on the rock-bound Cape Finisterre peninsula on the coast of Galicia shortly before 4 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Sunday. The crew - a man and a woman, both Belgian nationals - reported damage to the ship's rudder after it was rammed by an unknown number of orcas.

Adverse weather, with winds of up to 35 knots (65 km/h) and waves up to 3 meters (9.8 ft) high, hampered the towing operation, the service said, which took more than five hours until reaching port.

In May, orcas sank a sailing yacht after ramming it on the Moroccan side of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Although known as killer whales, endangered orcas are part of the dolphin family. They can measure up to eight meters and weigh up to six tons as adults.