Newly subpoenaed internal documents reveal that Facebook bowed to the Biden White House’s pressure to remove certain content related to Covid-19, including posts asserting that the virus was man-made, according to an exclusive report from The Wall Street Journal.
Nick Clegg, Facebook’s President of Global Affairs, prompted the discussion by inquiring why the company was removing, rather than merely demoting or labeling, claims that the virus was man-made.
“Can someone quickly remind me why we were removing—rather than demoting/labeling—claims that Covid is man-made,” queried Nick Clegg, Facebook’s President of Global Affairs, in an email to colleagues dated July 2021.
In response, a Facebook Vice President in charge of content policy cited pressure from the Biden administration to take more aggressive action. The VP later expressed regret for giving in to the pressure.
“We were under pressure from the administration and others to do more,” responded a Facebook vice president in charge of content policy. “We shouldn’t have done it.”
This conversation occurred three months after Facebook, now owned by Meta Platforms, reversed its stance on banning posts speculating that Covid-19 was man-made or manufactured.
These internal documents were subpoenaed by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, investigating the Biden regime’s overreach of governmental power into private sector communication to censor Americans’ speech on social media.
The Biden regime asserts that its discussions were primarily aimed at promoting vaccines and advancing public health goals. Yet, these communications suggest that Facebook’s content moderation decisions may have been more susceptible to political pressure than the company has previously acknowledged.
“We have consistently made it clear that we believe social-media companies have a critical responsibility to take account of the effects of their platforms that they have on the American people, while making independent decisions about the content of their platforms,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.
Despite these revelations, Facebook maintains its stance that its content moderation decisions remain independent and are not politically influenced, which is a total lie.
In the emails viewed by the Journal, Facebook executives debated whether removing posts could inadvertently bolster vaccine hesitancy, pushing individuals further away from vaccination by suppressing their speech and fostering feelings of marginalization.
Facebook executives re-evaluated their policies on Covid-19 content after President Biden’s comment in July 2021 accusing social media companies of “killing people.” This included potential pushback against the administration’s demands, particularly concerning the removal of satirical or humorous content implying vaccine safety concerns.
“The WH has previously indicated that it thinks humor should be removed if it is premised on the vaccine having side effects, so we expect it would similarly want to see humor about vaccine hesitancy removed,” the vice president wrote.
According to Jordan, Biden’s allegation initially infuriated Facebook employees.
“Thanks for sharing. There are so many untested assumptions in what the administration is saying recently-social media misinfo is increasing, it’s leading to death, it has an impact different from misinfo other places–not to mention how their definition of “misinfo” is completely unclear. As fair as it is to say we need to do better about reporting numbers that mean something, it also just seems like when the vaccination campaign isn’t going as hoped, it’s convenient for them to blame us….” according to the email.
Another employee responded, “I agree. This seems like a political battle that’s not fully grounded in facts, and it’s frustrating. That said, there’s good momentum internally right now to get even deeper on the data so we can push back more directly, so hopefully we’ll have a bit more to say on this soon.”
THE FACEBOOK FILES PART 2.
Newly subpoenaed documents reveal Facebook bowed to the Biden White House’s pressure to remove posts.
🧵 Thread: https://t.co/vOgRkBNFmW
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 28, 2023
Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), condemned these revelations as evidence of undue pressure on social media companies to remove protected speech. He emphasized the possibility of holding Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress if Facebook does not continue to produce necessary documents.
More from Jordan:
The Biden administration also wanted Facebook to remove TRUE information as well. pic.twitter.com/5SWcb7ZrRS
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 28, 2023
Clegg continued: “My sense is that our current course—in effect explaining ourselves more fully, but not shifting on where we draw the lines…is a recipe for protracted and increasing acrimony with the [White House].” pic.twitter.com/EwpnXz4wyI
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 28, 2023
And Facebook caved to the White House. Again.https://t.co/1wPgYg3zk5
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 28, 2023
The Gateway previously reported the FACEBOOK FILES PART 1. Read below:
Jim Hᴏft
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