Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told a U.S. congressional committee that senior Biden administration officials pressured the company to censor certain COVID-19 content during the pandemic, and that the company made choices it would not make today.
The House Judiciary Committee released Zuckerberg's letter Monday.
Zuckerberg wrote that the censored content included humor and satire, and that administration officials "expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn't agree."
"I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret we were not more outspoken about it," Zuckerberg said.
When asked to respond to the comments, a White House spokesperson said "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 spokesperson added.
Zuckerberg also discussed a $400 million effort carried out through his charitable foundation ahead of the 2020 presidential election, which he said was aimed at ensuring urban, suburban and rural communities had the resources to allow people to vote safely during a global pandemic.
"Despite the analyses I've seen showing otherwise, I know that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other. My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another -- or to even appear to be playing a role. So I don't plan on making a similar contribution this cycle," Zuckerberg said.
The letter comes just more than two months before the November U.S. general election.
VOA's Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some information for this story was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
