In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg he regretted not reacting to “government pressure” to censor content related to COVID-19.
He also acknowledged that Meta should not have downplayed a New York Post story about President Biden's family before the 2020 election. 
Zuckerberg said senior Biden administration officials "repeatedly pressured" Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to "censor" content in 2021.
"I think the government pressure was wrong and I'm sorry we weren't more honest," he wrote. to House Judiciary Speaker Jim Jordan. "As I told our teams at the time, I feel that we should not undermine our content standards because of pressure from any Administration in any direction — and we stand ready to do so if that happens again," Zuckerberg said in the letter (after the holiday ).
Meta's CEO also said the company "shouldn't have downplayed" a New York Post story about corruption allegations involving President Biden's family ahead of the 2020 election while waiting for auditors to review it.
The company has since updated its policies not to downgrade content in the United States pending background checks.
"My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or the other or even appear to be playing a role," Zuckerberg said.
House Republicans naturally hailed the letter as a "great victory for free speech," writing in the X:
Mark Zuckerberg just admitted three things:
1. Biden-Harris Admin "pressured" Facebook to censor Americans.
2. Facebook censored Americans.
3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story.
Big win for free speech. pic.twitter.com/ALlbZd9l6K
— House Judiciary GOP ??????????????????????????? (@JudiciaryGOP) August 26, 2024
“Mark Zuckerberg just admitted three things: 1. The Biden-Harris administration “forced” Facebook to censor Americans. 2. Facebook censors Americans. 3. Facebook broke the Hunter Biden laptop story.”
"Mark Zuckerberg also tells the Judiciary that he won't spend money this election cycle. That's right, no more Zuck-bucks. Huge victory for the integrity of elections".
Is the timing of the letter's publication coincidental? Is it for a purpose or is it coming after some Mark Zuckerberg crisis of conscience?
