Meta's CEO said the US government urged their teams to take down certain COVID content.
ADVERTISEMENTSenior US government officials "repeatedly pressured" Meta to remove certain content related to COVID-19, including satire, during the pandemic, Mark Zuckerberg has said.
The Meta CEO and chairman wrote in a letter to the Republican chair of a US congressional committee that ultimately it was the company's decision "whether or not to take content down".
But he added that US officials "expressed a lot of frustration" if the tech giant's teams did not agree.
Zuckerberg added that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, was "ready to push back if something like this happens again".
It's the latest repudiation by Zuckerberg of efforts to target misinformation about the pandemic during and after the 2020 presidential election, particularly as allegations have emerged that some posts were deleted or restricted wrongly.
"I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today," he said, without elaborating.
'Responsible actions to protect public health'
In response, the White House said in a statement that, "when confronted with a deadly pandemic, this administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety".
"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," the statement continued.
Experts have warned of the spread of misinformation with the US gearing up for a presidential election in November, particularly as artificial intelligence (AI) technology advances.
Zuckerberg also said he would no longer donate money to widen election access for voters through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the company that runs philanthropic projects for him and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
