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Zuckerberg’s Censorship Admission is More Contrived than Contrite

Below is my column in Fox.com on the admission of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg that Facebook yielded to pressure of the Biden Administration to censor citizens. The admission, however, appears more contrived than contrite.

Here is the column:

“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.” Those words from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg came this week with an admission in a letter that his company, Facebook, did yield to pressure from the Biden-Harris administration to censor American citizens on a wide array of subjects.

For those of us who have criticized Facebook for years for its role in the massive censorship system, Zuckerberg’s belated contrition was more insulting than inspiring. It had all of the genuine regret of a stalker found hiding under the bed of a victim.

Zuckerberg’s sudden regret only came after his company fought for years to conceal the evidence of its work with the government to censor opposing views. Zuckerberg was finally compelled to release the documents by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and the House Judiciary Committee.

Now forced to admit what many of us have long alleged, Zuckerberg is really, really sorry.

In my book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” I discuss Facebook’s record at length as a critical player in the anti-free speech alliance of government, corporate, academic, and media forces.

In prior testimony before the House Judiciary Committee and other congressional committees, I noted that Zuckerberg continued to refuse to release this information after Elon Musk exposed this system in his release of the “Twitter Files.”

Zuckerberg stayed silent as Musk was viciously attacked by anti-free speech figures in Congress and the media. He was fully aware of his own company’s similar conduct but stayed silent.

When the White House and President Joe Biden repeatedly claimed that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation, Facebook continued to withhold evidence that they too were pressured to suppress the story before the election.

When the censorship system was recently put before the Supreme Court in Murthy v. Missouri, the justices asked about evidence of coordination and pressure from the government. In Murthy, states successfully showed lower courts that there was coercion from the government in securing an injunction. The Biden administration denied such pressure and the Court rejected the standing of plaintiffs, blocked an order to stop the censorship, and sent the case back down to the lower court.

Zuckerberg still remained silent.

But Facebook was not silent when it came to censorship, or “content moderation” as the company prefers to call it. While Zuckerberg now expresses “regret” at not speaking out sooner, his company previously sought to sell Americans on censorship.

In 2021, I wrote about the Facebook commercial campaign in which the company attempted to rally young people to embrace censorship.

The commercials show people like “Joshan” who says that he “grew up with the internet.” Joshan mocks how much computers have changed and then objects how privacy and censorship has not evolved as much as our technology. As Joshan calls for “the blending of the real world and the internet world,” content moderation is presented as part of this not-so-brave new world.

Joshan and his equally eager colleagues Chava and Adam were presented by Facebook as the shiny happy faces of young people longing to be content modified.  They were all born in 1996 — the sweet spot for censors who saw young people as allies to reduce free speech.

For years, young people have been taught that free speech is harmful and triggering. We are raising a generation of speech-phobics and Zuckerberg and Facebook wanted to tap into that generation to get people to stop fearing the censor and love “content modification.”  It was time, as Joshan and his friends told us, to “change” with our computers.

Now, Zuckerberg and Meta want people to know that they were “pressured” to censor and really regret their role in silencing opposing voices.

It is the feigned regret that comes with forced exposure.

The Facebook files now put the lie to past claims of the Biden administration and many Democrats in Congress. For years, members attacked some of us who testified that we had no evidence of coordination or pressure from the government. At the same time, they opposed any effort to investigate and release such evidence.

The evidence is now undeniable.

The Biden administration has long demanded the removal of opposing views on a wide array of subjects. Democrats in Congress pushed Zuckerberg to expand the scope of censorship to include areas like climate change denial.

Jen Easterly, who heads the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is an example of the chilling scope of this effort.  Her agency was created to work on our critical infrastructure, but Easterly declared that the mandate would now include policing “our cognitive infrastructure.” That includes combating “malinformation,” or information “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”

Consider that for a second: true facts are censorable if the government views them as misleading.

As I write in my book, President Joe Biden is arguably the most anti-free speech president since John Adams. His administration helped create a censorship system that was described by one federal judge as “Orwellian.” Vice President Kamala Harris has been entirely supportive of that effort.

In 1800, Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams in the only election where free speech was one of the principal campaign issues. It should be so again. Harris should have to take ownership of the censorship system maintained by the administration.

In my book, I propose a federal law that would bar the government from using any federal funds to support efforts to censor, blacklist, or suppress individuals or groups. It would take the government out of the censorship business. Harris should be asked if she would oppose such a law and dismantle the current censorship apparatus in the federal government.

Democracy is not on the ballot in 2024, as many have claimed, but free speech is.

Jonathan Turley is a Fox News Media contributor and the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage” (Simon & Schuster, June 18, 2024).

345 thoughts on “Zuckerberg’s Censorship Admission is More Contrived than Contrite”

  2. Jonathan: The say a sociopathic narcissist is his own worst enemy. Need proof? Just look at DJT’s posts on Truth Social the past few days. In one he reposted a post by “the Penguin” that had a photo of Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton together with the caption: “Funny how blowjobs impacted both their careers differently”. Then DJT reposted a QAnon influencer who had a photo of DJT and the caption “Nothing can stop what is coming, NOTHING, WWGIWGA!!” DJT also reposted calls for Barack Obama to be tried before military tribunals.

    The above is just a sampling of how DJT is now completely detached from reality. But he has a right to be worried. The polls show he is down in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada. A USA Today/ Suffolk University poll shows Harris now leads DJT nationally 48% to 43%. The biggest shift has been among voters 18-34 and Hispanics. The latter group, that moved from supporting DJT by 2 points, to now supporting Harris by a 16 points–53% to 37%!

    Of course, DJT has other worries. His Trump Media stock is continuing to tank. It’s now down 60% over the past 6 months–now below $20. The reason is that investors are worried DJT will lose the election and they are getting out while they still have time–especially if DJT tries to sell some of his stock next month.

    And DJT knows he is facing another financial train wreck. AG James in NY is hovering over the Trumpster if he loses his appeal of Judge Engoron’s $500 million judgment in the civil fraud case. In the likely event he loses DJT will be forced to sell some of his iconic properties in NY to pay the judgment. And AG James is ready to pounce on DJT’s Bedminster golf resort and other properties if there is a shortfall.

    So DJT is one desperate dude who now sees his business empire crumbling around him. No wonder he resorts to really bizarre and “weird” QAnon posts these days!

    2. “a sociopathic narcissist is his own worst enemy”
      Pretty autobiographical this time, ‘Dennis’.
      Is it because you’re “one desperate dude”?

    3. It was a huge mistake to make Trump the standard-bearer. He lacks the gravitas and discipline of a
      national leader. That brief opening theme at his RNC acceptance speech about “unity” was totally phony. He’s not a “unity guy”, and unfortunately, continued uproductive divisiveness is the thing the country wants desperately to put behind us. Nobody on Trump’s campaign team can teach an old dog a new trick. If you care about conservative policies and priorities like I do, it’s devastating that Trump is impulsive and not-a-team-player..

      2. “If you care about conservative policies and priorities like I do, it’s devastating that Trump is impulsive and not-a-team-player..”

        If you care about conservative policies and priorities, then you will crawl over broken glass to Vote Trump.

    4. See new treatment for TDS, courtesy of Nicole Shanahan. But Independence might not be for everyone.

  3. * SENATOR KEELEY

    Murthy v. Missouri is the case. Listening, speaking, reading and writing are at issue. Standing includes freedom to listen to whomever is speaking. Paternalistic government isn’t acceptable.

    Z speaks of pressure. It’s undefined coercion can be any incentive and section 230 is mentioned regarding liability. Emails show a continued nagging by the government including profanity used.

    Information needed regarding e idence presented in lower courts. While the plaintiffs were not prevented from speaking the case is really about the freedom to listen and read whatever anyone presents.

    The government has its list of humbug and humbuggers apparently. Z is a progressive.

    1. * Facebook-a place for progressives and not conservatives.

      Media monopoly – “partnership” with big government.

      IslamaPHOBIA? TrumpPHOBIA. How about JewishPHOBIA. Anti Islam, anti Trump, anti Semitic will do. ANTI Harris/Walz.

      Progressive Facebook. We do not accept conservatives.

  4. You’d think a Constitutional lawyer would have suggestions on how best to adapt the legal system to counter massive Public Frauds waged for political ends — e.g. the highly effective cover-up of Hunter’s laptop made by the Biden campaign with ex-CIA professional help — yeah, the one that tilted the votes of 11%.

    No, all we hear from JT is whining about it 4 years later. Do you know why?

    In “The Indispensable Right”, it’s clear where the author stands. He believes that deliberate, well-crafted fabrications pushed out by the most powerful political actors to dupe the electorate are protected “free speech”.

    So whinge on! Brow-beat Zuck. A lot of good it’s going to do.

    The one ray of hope is that JT makes an exception for Defamation, mostly because it doesn’t rely on prosecution.
    Hint, hint!

  5. You know there is ZERO confidence in Kamala not clowning this interview up, when the campaign is willing to suffer the horrible optics of having a babysitter tag along to try to prevent it.

  6. Relax. It has taken Kamala’s handlers a long time to train her how to rationalize everything she said in the past in light of her new positions today and to defend positions that don’t come natural to her normally leftist self. Meanwhile, they are preparing the new script to be regurgitated in the Media-Democratic pol-Hollywood Axis. The Axis will pivot like American communists did when Hitler invaded Russia.

  7. There’s a very fine line between “contrived” and “contrite.” Only two letters.

  8. Jonathan:

    In other newws

    The Trump campaign today agreed to allow Kamala to bring Walz along to hold her hand at the debate.

  9. * Harris may be getting DJT script lately. No tips tax and build the wall? 😂 definite computer mistake or prank by her staffers.

    1. * Will the TDS ever go away? College kids revving up more Israel protests. So 💤 boring.

      Definitely time for obamalamadingdang, Harris and Biden to retire.

  10. Jonathan: Let us not forget this gem

    Joe Biden manhandled Donald Trump at last night’s debate
    ——Dennis McInlier, circa June 2024

  11. A cockroach in the concrete,
    Courthouse tan and beady eyes
    A slouch with fallen arches, purging truths into great lies
    A little man with a big eraser, changing history
    Procedures that he’s programmed to, all he hears and sees
    Altering the facts and figures, events and every issue
    Make a person disappear, and no one will ever miss you
    Rewrites every story, every poem that ever was
    Eliminates incompetence, and those who break the laws
    Follow the instructions of the New Ways’ Evil Book of Rules
    Replacing rights with wrongs, the files and records in the schools

  12. See below as Dennis the Demented Draft Dodger, acts like Own Goal Goldman, and celebrates the smackdowns of Jack Smith by Cannon and SCOTUS.

    Thanks for that hilarious walk down yesterdays news, Denny!

  13. Jonathan: DJT thought he was in the clear. The SC right-wing majority first gave him “immunity” from criminal prosecution. Then Judge Eileen “loose” Cannon dismissed the Mar-a-Lago docs case. DJT was basking in court victories that he thought would result in his victory in November. What DJT didn’t count on was Jack Smith ability to play 3-dimensional chess.

    Smith just filed an appeal of Cannon’s erroneous ruling that will certainly result in reversal by the 11th Circuit. And in the DC case before Judge Chutkan Smith has now filed a superseding indictment that keeps all the original 4 counts but eliminates some aspects of the charges to comport with the SC’s “immunity” decision. That means DJT will be arraigned again–terrible optics for DJT with just 10 weeks left before the election.

    Now DJT appeals to God–praying he will win the election so he can shut down Jack Smith’s cases. That’s his only hope. Because if he loses the election all bets are off. DJT will face years in court and jury trials. That’s something an 80 yr old doesn’t want to face. What DJT forgets is God’s admonition: “What I give you with one hand I can take away with the other”.

    2. “80 yr old?”
      Where’d you pick up that lasso, cowboy? Were you talking about Biden? maybe. but he’s 81 today
      Or yourself? likely.
      How old will you be in a few years, denny?

      1. Denny is 80, but he stays young by spending “wholesome time” with his 11 year old nephew.

    4. Brainwashed idiots like you deserve to live under Communist tyranny and suffer. You’re too stupid to live free.

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