\n
![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/GettyImages-1975339885_60fd19-e1724754200220.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has washed his hands of this year\u2019s U.S. presidential elections\u2014and has vowed not to accommodate any demands<\/a> from current or future administrations.<\/p>\n A letter written by the Facebook<\/a> founder to Republican representative Jim Jordan alleges White House representatives \u201crepeatedly pressured\u201d Meta into censoring COVID content<\/a> and \u201cexpressed a lot of frustration\u201d when the Meta team would not comply. <\/a><\/p>\n The letter, dated August 26, was shared on official X<\/a> page of the House Judiciary GOP<\/a> which is chaired by Rep. Jordan.<\/p>\n In the letter Zuckerberg, who has amassed a fortune worth $185 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index<\/a>, says he regrets cowing to the alleged pressure from the Biden administration during the pandemic. <\/p>\n The entrepreneur wrote: \u201cUltimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure. <\/p>\n \u201cI believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it. <\/p>\n \u201cI also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn\u2019t make today.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House did not immediately respond to Fortune\u2019s<\/em> request for comment but has issued a statement on how it approached online content relating to coronavirus. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen confronted with a deadly pandemic, this administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety,\u201d a spokesman told Politico<\/a>. \u201cOur 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Amid fears of a \u201ctsunami of misinformation\u201d<\/a> ahead of the November elections, Zuckerberg is digging his heels in against any political pressure to come. <\/p>\n He added: \u201cI feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any administration in either direction\u2014and we\u2019re ready to push back if something like this happens again.\u201d<\/p>\n Overall Zuckerberg\u2019s letter seeks to disentangle both Meta\u2014which is currently being investigated by the European Commission<\/a> over claims it is failing to adequately tackle disinformation\u2014and himself from politics. <\/p>\n At the end of the letter Zuckerberg adds: \u201cI want to address the contributions I made during the last presidential cycle to support electoral infrastructure. The idea here was to make sure local election jurisdictions across the country had the resources they needed to help people vote safely during a global pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n The contributions were made through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative\u2014a philanthropic body co-founded and led<\/a> by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan\u2014totalling more than $400 million.<\/p>\n At the time critics\u2014including former President Trump<\/a>\u2014baselessly claimed the funds were being used<\/a> to get Democratic nominee President Biden elected. <\/p>\n Indeed a study from UCLA<\/a> published in May discovered the funds donated by the billionaire\u2014nicknamed \u201cZuckerbucks\u201d by critics\u2014\u201ddid not substantially improve the performance of Democratic candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n The contributions were designed to be non-partisan and spread across a range of urban and rural communities, Zuckerberg said.<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cStill, despite the analyses I\u2019ve seen showing otherwise, I know that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other. My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another\u2014or to even appear to be playing a role. So I don\u2019t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n Mark Zuckerberg just admitted three things:<\/p>\n 1. Biden-Harris Admin “pressured” Facebook to censor Americans. <\/p>\n 2. Facebook censored Americans. <\/p>\n 3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story. <\/p>\n Big win for free speech. pic.twitter.com\/ALlbZd9l6K<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 House Judiciary GOP \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@JudiciaryGOP) August 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n In the letter, Zuckerberg also confirms Meta has axed a policy of demoting stories until fact-checkers can confirm they are accurate.<\/p>\n The decision was taken after Meta was approached by the FBI, Zuckerberg writes, \u201cabout a potential Russian disinformation operation about the Biden family and Burisma in the lead up to the 2020 election.\u201d<\/p>\n Zuckerberg explains: \u201cThat fall, when we saw a New York Post<\/a><\/em> story reporting on corruption allegations involving then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden\u2019s family, we sent that story to fact-checkers for review and temporarily demoted it while waiting for a reply.\u201d <\/p>\n In retrospect, Zuckerberg adds, \u201cwe shouldn\u2019t have demoted the story\u201d and as such \u201cwe\u2019ve changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter and information in Zuckerberg\u2019s letter has been lauded by the GOP. Despite the evidence that Zuckerberg\u2019s donations made no difference to the outcome of the election, the House Judiciary GOP wrote on Elon Musk-owned X<\/a>: \u201cNo more Zuck-bucks. Huge win for election integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n Meta did not immediately respond to Fortune\u2019s<\/em> request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Fact-check delays<\/h2>\n