Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has now admitted publicly that moderators at Facebook and Instagram faced vast pressure from the federal government to take down contrarian COVID-19 content, election-related content—including jokes and satire—as well as the New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story. This led the platforms to make moderation decisions that Zuckerberg now regrets. "I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it," wrote Zuckerberg in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the suppression of speech on social media. "We're ready to pushback if something like this happens again."
This is a welcome development, although not everyone who previously complained about the company's moderation policies is happy about it. Venture capitalist Eric Weinstein, for instance, opined that Zuckerberg's wealth should be "distributed to those he targeted and wronged" as recompense for what occurred under his watch.
