In the latest episode of “Who’s Really in Charge?” Mark Zuckerberg, Meta/Facebook’s top honcho, let the cat out of the bag: The Biden-Harris administration leaned on Facebook to tighten the digital leash on Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic – and he complied (whether it was willingly or unwillingly is a decision left up to you.)
Yes, 2021 was the year Uncle Sam traded in the “land of the free” for “land of the censored.”
In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee on Monday, August 26th, Zuckerberg didn’t mince words. The Biden crew, it seems, had a bit of a bone to pick with Facebook over “certain COVID-19 content.”
We’re talking about anything from serious discourse to the memes that kept us sane during lockdown. Apparently, the administration wasn’t in the mood for jokes – or free speech for that matter. Their frustration was palpable when Zuckerberg’s team dared to disagree (if they actually did).
Zuckerberg’s confession: playing along with the government’s censorship tango.
Zuckerberg admitted that while the government was doing its best impression of a bad boss, he and his team ultimately played along, albeit reluctantly (or so he says). The pressure from above wasn’t just a polite nudge either; it was more like a full-court press.
And though Zuck’s folks at Facebook had the final say on what got the axe, they weren’t exactly free agents (or so he says). The CEO now looks back with a twinge of regret (or so he says), wishing he’d pushed back a little harder against Big Brother.
Hunter Biden laptop saga.
In a revelation that could make Orwell spin in his grave, Zuckerberg also confessed that Facebook demoted the now-infamous Hunter Biden laptop story. Why? Because the FBI had warned them about a possible Russian disinformation campaign (or so he says).
Spoiler alert: it wasn’t disinformation, and Facebook’s decision to squelch the story wasn’t exactly a shining moment for free speech. But does Zuckerberg REALLY care? Probably not. He’s a Democrat, after all. What he says in public is not necessarily the truth. In private, I’m sure he was more than a willing participant in the censorship. Do any of us really think that the federal government had to strong- arm Zuckerberg to help them control people and win an election??!
A new playbook or just another smokescreen?
Now that Zuck’s “collusion” with the government has been exposed, he has said that he’s tweaked Facebook’s playbook (or so he says). The new policy? No more knee-jerk demotions while waiting for the leftist fact-checkers to clock in. It’s a small win for free speech, but one wonders – how many stories have already been lost to the digital abyss? And how many more will be in lost in the future?
The House Judiciary Committee celebrated Zuckerberg’s confession on X (formerly known as the tyrannical Twitter), calling it a “big win for free speech.” But let’s be honest – when free speech needs to be “won back,” something’s seriously wrong in America.
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