Facebook internal emails reveal execs complained about White House pressure to censor content

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee is releasing subpoenaed documents from Facebook that demonstrate it was pressured by the Biden White House to censor content it deemed objectionable, and that the social media platform ultimately felt pressured to do what it was told, reports Just the News.

Committee Chairman Jim Jordan secured the documents after placing the big tech platform under scrutiny, which could lead to a contempt charge for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Jordan released the first batch Thursday in what is now being termed as the "Facebook Files," a series of reports that outline the government’s covert censorship activities for social media platforms.

That batch revealed that Facebook officials feared consequences if they failed to comply with demands from the White House. Jordan released the second batch of communications on Friday.

One communication suggests a Facebook employee circulated an email for Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg describing “continued pressure” from the Biden administration.

Another communication reveals Facebook President for Global Affairs Nick Clegg described exchanges between him and a senior White House official about removing certain social media posts.

One such post suggested vaccines for COVID-19 could have undesirable side effects, and Clegg purportedly told the White House official that “removing content like that would represent a significant incursion into traditional boundaries of free expression in the U.S.”

Other exchanges reveal that the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General pressured Facebook about posts concerning side effects.

“In sum­mer of 2021, the White House was mount­ing a na­tion­wide push for Amer­i­cans to get vaccinated for COVID-19. Part of that push in­cluded a pub­lic and SECRET campaign to get Facebook to more ag­gres­sively po­lice vac­cine-re­lated con­tent, including TRUE information,” Jordan wrote on Twitter.

Jordan also highlighted an email from Clegg asking why Facebook was suppressing content related to the theory that COVID-19 originated from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.

That communication depicts a response from an unnamed Facebook official, who admitted they did so "because we were under pressure from the administration ... we shouldn't have done it."

Other exchanges reveal Facebook officials were upset about  the administration's interference and propensity to blame the platform for negative public perception.