Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg disclosed on the Joe Rogan Podcast that the Biden administration pressured Facebook to censor content related to COVID-19 vaccines. He expressed concerns about the administration’s efforts to suppress discussions around vaccine side effects during their vaccine rollout initiative.
Zuckerberg highlighted that the administration was extremely forceful, often insisting that Facebook remove factually accurate content. They pushed us super hard to take down things that were honestly true,” he explained. He resisted these demands, especially concerning legitimate vaccine side effects.
Zuckerberg noted during the interview, which covered various topics, “This hit the most extreme. I would say it was during the Biden Administration when they were trying to roll out the vaccine program. Now I’m generally pretty pro rolling out vaccines, I think on balance the vaccines are more positive than negative but I think that while they’re trying to push that program they also tried to censor anyone who was arguing against it”.
Zuckerberg admits that the Biden regime were pressuring him to “take down things that were true” about vaccine side effects.
He just confirmed that the Biden regime violated the Constitution.
The establishment are engaged in Orwellian censorship.
Crimes against humanity. pic.twitter.com/0ZvFrsO1xT
— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) January 10, 2025Zuckerberg recounted instances where Biden administration officials would contact Meta staff directly, often using aggressive and coercive language. These people from the Biden administration would call up our team, scream at them, and curse,” he said.
Read: Elon Musk Applauds Meta’s Decision to End Fact-Checking in the US
In one instance, the administration wanted a humorous meme about potential future class-action lawsuits over vaccines removed, which Zuckerberg refused. He emphasized the importance of not censoring true information or satire.
🚨NEW: In case you were wondering what Zuckerberg was referring to on the Joe Rogan podcast when he said that the Biden Administration was yelling and swearing at them here is a snippet from a House Judiciary Interim Censorship Report. This is public record like Zuck said. pic.twitter.com/nXcQohJW7u
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) January 11, 2025Zuckerberg also mentioned that the situation escalated following public comments from President Biden, after which various government agencies began probing Meta aggressively. “It was brutal,” he said.
Read: Understanding Meta’s Fact-Checking Program and Its Operations
In response to these challenges and to promote freedom online, Zuckerberg announced that Meta was discontinuing its fact-checking program in the US. Instead, it will adopt a “Community Notes” system similar to X’s, allowing user-driven content moderation, as the New York Post reported.
