This is not a win for free speech. It’s a political grenade.
This week Mark Zuckerberg sent Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) a letter outlining how the Biden administration pressured his company to “censor” free speech on Facebook — specifically misinformation about Covid-19. The letter also made reference to Hunter Biden’s laptop and Zuckerberg’s lack of plans to spend money on the election. This sounds bad. But none of this information is new.
It’s interesting that Zuckerberg decided to dive into the free speech snake pit this week. It’s also not surprising that Republicans, who have been on a book-banning spree at schools nationwide, are propping up old facts as if they were new revelations in their ongoing quest to blame Democrats for censorship. It’s election season, and questioning reality is part of the fun.
As we enter the final two months before the election, there are fewer guardrails for misinformation in place on major social media platforms, and writing a letter about the Biden administration and censorship, Zuckerberg seems to be throwing Republicans a political grenade, something that can fire up the base and use to get mad about Democrats. In reality, though, Zuckerberg is probably just trying to keep his company out of more hot water and to continue revamping his own public image.
To understand how Zuckerberg’s letter could do this, it helps to know why he sent it to Rep. Jordan in the first place.
Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has singled out the Meta CEO in an ongoing investigation that alleges the Biden administration and tech companies colluded to censor free speech online. Jordan even threatened to hold Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena for documents. Zuckerberg now seems rather forthcoming.
In his letter, Zuckerberg acknowledges that the Biden administration pressured the company “to censor certain Covid-19 content, including humor and satire” and says that the pressure was “wrong.” Zuckerberg added that his company was “ready to push back if something like this happens again.”
This is not news. The Biden administration did pressure Meta, as well as its competitors, to crack down on Covid-19 misinformation throughout the pandemic.
