Internal Facebook emails show White House pushed to censor COVID posts
Jul 28, 2023
By Karah Rucker (Anchor), Chris Field (Senior Editor)
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This story is a Media Miss by the left as only 3% of the coverage is from left leaning media.
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Facebook bowed to White House pressure, removed Covid-19 posts
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Facebook removed COVID-19-related posts after pressure from the White House: Report
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Internal Facebook emails show White House pushed to censor COVID posts
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Facebook removed COVID-19 posts, bowing to White House pressure:…
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Facebook Bowed to White House Pressure, Removed Covid Posts
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Jim Jordan drops ‘Facebook Files’ showing Biden admin pushed platform to censor COVID-19 content
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Biden White House pressured Facebook to censor lab leak posts
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Meta pressured by Biden White House to remove vaccine posts, internal messages show
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Facebook Censored Posts Saying COVID Was Man-Made At Biden Admin’s Behest: REPORT
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Jim Jordan Unleashes ‘The Facebook Files’: Social Media Giant ‘Censored Americans Because Of Biden White House Pressure’
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Facebook Complied with White House Demands to Remove Posts Claiming Covid Was Man-Made
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Emails reveal that Biden White House pressured Facebook to censor vaccine memes, Tucker Carlson videos: ‘Worse than anyone could ever have thought’
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‘SMOKING GUN’: Jim Jordan Releases ‘Facebook Files’ Revealing Damning Internal Emails
Click to see story on The Western Journal
Zuckerberg Caves as Rep. Jordan Unleashes ‘Facebook Files’ Bombshell
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Biden White House Ordered Facebook to Censor Vaccine Memes and Tucker Carlson Posts – The Ohio Star
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Jim Jordan Reveals Damning ‘SMOKING-GUN DOCS’ Detailing Big Tech Collusion to Censor Americans
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Biden White House Pressured Facebook To Censor COVID Posts, According to Files Released by GOP
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Jim Jordan unleashes ‘The Facebook Files’, alleges White House pressured social media censorship
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‘Smoking gun!’ Jim Jordan drops bombshell Facebook Files ‘proving’ Biden’s role in censoring Americans · American Wire News
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Biden White House Ordered Facebook to Censor Vaccine Memes and Tucker Carlson Posts – The Michigan Star
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Biden White House Ordered Facebook to Censor Vaccine Memes and Tucker Carlson Posts – The Florida Capital Star
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Biden White House pushed Facebook to censor COVID posts: Report
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Jim Jordan Obtains Facebook Files Showing White House Pressure to Censor Americans
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FACEBOOK FILES Part 1: Rep. Jim Jordan Releases Smoking-Gun Documents Proving Facebook Censored Americans at the Request of Biden Regime | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hᴏft
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Emails reveal how Biden admin exerted pressure on Facebook to suppress certain COVID-related content
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The Facebook Files: Jim Jordan Releases Unredacted Emails That Expose Biden Admin’s Unconstitutional Censorship of Americans
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The Facebook Files Reveal Pressure From the Biden Administration to Crush Free Speech
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YOU’RE ZUCK’D NOW! Jordan Drops ‘Facebook Files,’ Reveals Meta-White House Relationship
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32 other sources covering this story
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Center
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Last Updated
9 months ago
The Republican House majority has repeatedly accused the executive branch of weaponizing the government against the American people, including by allegedly pressuring social media companies to limit, remove, or block users’ posts that were seen as COVID disinformation or misinformation. The first major documented reports of these tactics came to light in the “Twitter Files,” where independent journalists used internal Twitter communications provided by Elon Musk to reveal repeated government efforts to get the social platform to limit tweets.
Now, new internal Meta communications appear to show the Biden White House pressuring Facebook to censor some posts discussing COVID-19 vaccines and origins.
The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, has been demanding the Facebook documents from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for months.
Republicans subpoenaed Zuckerberg in February for information about his company’s discussions with the administration over content moderation and had threatened the CEO with contempt of Congress charges if he did not fully comply.
Meta sent three batches of documents July 26 and July 27, leading the committee to postpone a vote on a contempt resolution.
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Following Meta’s submission of its communications, Jordan took to Twitter to share some of what he and his committee received. His Twitter thread was followed by a Wall Street Journal report that cited other documents Jordan and his committee had not yet shared with the public.
“The Facebook files, part 1: Smoking-gun docs prove Facebook censored Americans because of Biden White House pressure,” Jordan tweeted .
The chairman stated that, according to documents, Facebook and other companies “faced tremendous pressure from the Biden White House—both publicly and privately—to crack down on alleged ‘misinformation'” during the first half of 2021.
Jordan cited an April 2021 Facebook email to Zuckerberg and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg that said, in part, “We are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the White House and the press, to remove more COVID-19 vaccine discouraging content.”
Jordan shared another Meta communication revealing that Biden senior COVID adviser Andy Slavitt was “outraged” over posts poking fun at the vaccines.
In the email, Facebook President for Global Affairs Nick Clegg detailed a call with Slavitt that, Clegg said, included some “serious” issues the company needed to address.
Clegg wrote that Slavitt “was outraged — not too strong a word to describe his reaction — that [Facebook] did not remove” a post containing what was considered a humorous meme about the vaccine.
The meme said “10 years from now you will be watching TV and hear ‘Did you or a loved one take the COVID vaccine? You may be entitled…” — a play on commercials where past medicines or products went wrong.
According to one July 2021 email thread reported by the Wall Street Journal, Clegg and an unnamed Facebook executive were discussing why posts about COVID’s origins were being censored.
“Can someone quickly remind me why we were removing — rather than demoting or labeling — claims that Covid is man made?” Clegg asked.
The Facebook executive replied, “We were under pressure from the administration and others to do more.”
Those same two executives, the Journal said, had a separate discussion about cutting out humorous content, much like the meme Slavitt wanted removed.
“There is likely a significant gap between what the WH would like us to remove and what we are comfortable removing,” the unnamed executive wrote. “The WH has previously indicated that it thinks humor should be removed if it is premised on the vaccine having side effects, so we expect it would similarly want to see humor about vaccine hesitancy removed.”
Clegg responded, “I can’t see Mark [Zuckerberg] in a million years being comfortable with removing that — and I wouldn’t recommend it.”
According to an Aug. 2, 2021, document Jordan posted to Twitter, Facebook did, in fact, change its policies in response to White House pressure.
The company’s leadership asked some policy teams “to brainstorm some additional policy levers we can pull to be more aggressive against Covid and vaccine misinformation,” a request that was “stemming from the continued criticism of our approach from the US administration,” the communication said.
Jordan closed his Twitter thread saying his committee had decided to hold off on contempt of Congress charges for Zuckerberg, but noted that it’s still “on the table and will be used if Facebook fails to cooperate in full.”
“To be continued,” he concluded.
According to the Straight Arrow News Media Miss™ tool, this story is a Media Miss for the left. The Media Landscape indicates that while right-leaning outlets are covering this story, fewer – if any – left-leaning outlets are reporting on the topic.
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Media Landscape
This story is a Media Miss by the left as only 3% of the coverage is from left leaning media.
Learn more about this dataLeft 3%
Center 10%
Right 87%
Bias Distribution
Far
Left
+0
Click to close
Lean
Left
+0
Click to close
Facebook bowed to White House pressure, removed Covid-19 posts
Click to see story on CNBC
Facebook removed COVID-19-related posts after pressure from the White House: Report
Click to see story on WION
Internal Facebook emails show White House pushed to censor COVID posts
Click to see story on Straight Arrow News
Click to close
Facebook removed COVID-19 posts, bowing to White House pressure:…
Click to see story on New York Post
Facebook Bowed to White House Pressure, Removed Covid Posts
Click to see story on Wall Street Journal
Jim Jordan drops ‘Facebook Files’ showing Biden admin pushed platform to censor COVID-19 content
Click to see story on justthenews.com
Biden White House pressured Facebook to censor lab leak posts
Click to see story on Reason
Breaking: Jordan Releases ‘Smoking Gun Docs’ Confirming Facebook Bowed to White House Censorship Demands
Click to see story on Children's Health Defense
Click to close
Meta pressured by Biden White House to remove vaccine posts, internal messages show
Click to see story on Washington Examiner
Facebook Censored Posts Saying COVID Was Man-Made At Biden Admin’s Behest: REPORT
Click to see story on The Daily Caller
Jim Jordan Unleashes ‘The Facebook Files’: Social Media Giant ‘Censored Americans Because Of Biden White House Pressure’
Click to see story on The Daily Wire
Facebook Complied with White House Demands to Remove Posts Claiming Covid Was Man-Made
Click to see story on National Review
Emails reveal that Biden White House pressured Facebook to censor vaccine memes, Tucker Carlson videos: ‘Worse than anyone could ever have thought’
Click to see story on The Blaze
‘SMOKING GUN’: Jim Jordan Releases ‘Facebook Files’ Revealing Damning Internal Emails
Click to see story on The Western Journal
Zuckerberg Caves as Rep. Jordan Unleashes ‘Facebook Files’ Bombshell
Click to see story on NewsBusters
Biden White House Ordered Facebook to Censor Vaccine Memes and Tucker Carlson Posts – The Ohio Star
Click to see story on The Ohio Star
Jim Jordan Reveals Damning ‘SMOKING-GUN DOCS’ Detailing Big Tech Collusion to Censor Americans
Click to see story on Townhall
Biden White House Pressured Facebook To Censor COVID Posts, According to Files Released by GOP
Click to see story on Washington Free Beacon
Jim Jordan unleashes ‘The Facebook Files’, alleges White House pressured social media censorship
Click to see story on Rebel News
‘Smoking gun!’ Jim Jordan drops bombshell Facebook Files ‘proving’ Biden’s role in censoring Americans · American Wire News
Click to see story on American Wire News
Biden White House Ordered Facebook to Censor Vaccine Memes and Tucker Carlson Posts – The Michigan Star
Click to see story on themichiganstar.com
Biden White House Ordered Facebook to Censor Vaccine Memes and Tucker Carlson Posts – The Florida Capital Star
Click to see story on floridacapitalstar.com
Biden White House pushed Facebook to censor COVID posts: Report
Click to see story on Fox News
Jim Jordan Obtains Facebook Files Showing White House Pressure to Censor Americans
Click to see story on Breitbart
Click to close
FACEBOOK FILES Part 1: Rep. Jim Jordan Releases Smoking-Gun Documents Proving Facebook Censored Americans at the Request of Biden Regime | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hᴏft
Click to see story on The Gateway Pundit
Emails reveal how Biden admin exerted pressure on Facebook to suppress certain COVID-related content
Click to see story on Twitchy
The Facebook Files: Jim Jordan Releases Unredacted Emails That Expose Biden Admin’s Unconstitutional Censorship of Americans
Click to see story on InfoWars
The Facebook Files Reveal Pressure From the Biden Administration to Crush Free Speech
Click to see story on PJ Media
YOU’RE ZUCK’D NOW! Jordan Drops ‘Facebook Files,’ Reveals Meta-White House Relationship
Click to see story on Sean.Hannity
Click to close
32 other sources covering this story
Total News Sources
32
Leaning Left
1
Center
3
Leaning Right
26
Last Updated
9 months ago
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