Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Meta, expressed regret for succumbing to pressure from the Biden administration to censor content on Facebook and Instagram during the pandemic.

In a letter to the chairman of the House of Representatives committee, as reported by the BBC, he stated that senior government officials, including members of the White House, pressured Meta to remove content in 2021.

The White House defended its actions, emphasizing that it was promoting “responsible actions to protect public health and safety.” Mr. Zuckerberg also admitted that his company “temporarily downranked” content related to Hunter Biden before the 2020 election, following an FBI warning about “potential Russian disinformation.”

However, that content was later shown not to be part of such an operation, Zuckerberg clarified.

Referring to the COVID-19 content, Zuckerberg wrote: “In 2021, senior officials in the Biden administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire. We made some decisions that, based on today’s knowledge and experience, we wouldn’t make now. I believe the government’s pressure was wrong, and I regret that we weren’t more clear about it.”

Zuckerberg emphasized that in the future, Meta will be prepared to “resist” similar situations. His letter was addressed to Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating content moderation on online platforms. Republicans hailed the letter as a “big win for free speech.”

In a statement to Politico, the White House defended its actions, saying: “Our position is clear and consistent: We believe that tech companies and other private entities should consider the impacts of their actions on the American people while making independent decisions about the information they present.”