(Politicizd) - This past Thursday, in an interview on The Joe Rogan Experience, Mark Zuckerberg revealed that following instructions from the FBI, articles surrounding Hunter Biden were censored in the weeks before the 2020 election.
Zuckerberg, a co-founder of Facebook and a now CEO of Meta Platforms (the parent company of Facebook), explained:
“The FBI basically came to us… [saying], ‘Hey, you should be on high alert. We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election. We have it on a notice that there is about to be some kind of a dump that is similar to that, so be just vigilant.'”.
When pressed further, the Facebook founder denied that the FBI explicitly called for censorship of the articles, saying instead that the now-President’s son ”fit the pattern” for censorable content. He went on to express regret for the way it played out and ultimately, acknowledged the article was wrongfully censored.
He explained, “It turned out after the fact, the fact-checkers looked into it, no one was able to say it was false … I think it sucks, though, in the same way that probably having to go through a criminal trial but being proven innocent in the end sucks.”
(Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms)
Critics though, say the apology is too little and too late, as the restriction likely played at least a minimal role in the 2020 election, as most voters expressed doubt in the legitimacy of the article’s content. Notably, as of August 2022, the original expose is considered entirely true.
At the time, Twitter and Facebook admitted their errors, despite what Zuckerberg now calls different approaches to the same
situation.
The CEO called Twitter‘s approach ‘Black and White’, as Twitter locked the New York Post’s account and banned the sharing of the article on its platform. Facebook, on the other hand, allowed users to view the content, but limited the ability to share it.
Nevertheless, Republicans are critical of Zuckerberg as he essentially admitted a widely suspected ‘conspiracy’ that the FBI helped Joe Biden’s 2020 election campaign.
Surprisingly, the FBI responded releasing a statement defending its actions:
“The FBI has provided companies with foreign threat indicators to help them protect their platforms and customers from abuse by foreign malign influence actors”.
The statement reflected the leftists viewpoint that the Hunter Biden story originated from Russia in an attempt to influence the election.
Republican House Leader, Kevin McCarthy responded to the matter calling out Biden, Big Tech and the FBI for what he calls collusion. From @GOPLeader on Twitter:
—
The Biden campaign, Big Tech, bad actors at the FBI, and legacy media colluded to hide details about Hunter Biden's shady business dealings just as Americans were making up their minds about the presidential election.
@HouseGOP will investigate until we find the full truth.
—
Altogether, many are bracing for what could be an eventual amendment to Section 230, a section of Title 47, enacted by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
The section explicitly states “immunity for website platforms with respect to third party content.” This means Facebook, Twitter and the entirety of Big Tech are not liable for the content on its platform.
Just this past March, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas reiterated his concern suggesting that the section be reevaluated.
Nonethelss, many conservatives like Ben Shapiro feel the move could be overbearing as Republicans generally prefer less government interference. Some conservatives went further expressing a paralel between George Orwell’s 1984, if the media would be federally controlled in any matter. However, with instances like the Hunter Biden story, the move toward change is more likely than ever before.
