Apparently, Joe Biden can’t take a joke. Oh, and he also has contempt for the principle of free expression online.
Apparently, Joe Biden can’t take a joke. Oh, and he also has contempt for the principle of free expression online.
Both these revelations were just confirmed by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who on Monday evening blew the whistle on the Biden administration’s attempts to pressure his company to censor content relating to the COVID-19 pandemic—including “humor and satire.” Zuckerberg confirmed in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee that they did make changes to their “enforcement” (read: censorship) in light of this pressure and that the White House expressed “a lot of frustration” with the company when their take-down demands weren’t always met.
“I believe the government pressure was wrong”, Zuckerberg wrote, “and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it. I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today.”
“We’re ready to push back if something like this happens again”, the CEO concluded. And it very well might, because the Biden administration evidently does not regret taking this approach.
“When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this Administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety”, the White House said in response to this story. “Our 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.”
(Translation: We still think the government knows best and should get to dictate to companies what ideas Americans can express on their platforms.
