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Facebook initially balked at censoring satirical memes about Covid-19 vaccines until US government officials screamed, cursed, and threatened them into doing so, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of the platform's parent company Meta, has said.
Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Friday, Zuckerberg addressed his company's censorship both during the 2020 election and afterward, seemingly blaming it on government pressure.
"I don't think that the pushing for social media companies to censor stuff was legal," Zuckerberg told Rogan. "At some level, I do think that having people in the administration calling up the guys on our team and yelling at them and cursing and threatening repercussions if we don't take down things that are true... it's pretty bad."
According to Zuckerberg, the ban on censorship in the US Constitution does not apply to "content moderation" by private companies, "but the First Amendment does apply to government, that's like the whole point."
Comment: Starbuck is a heavy-hitter in the fight to ban woke policies. His ability to weaponize social media has CEOs quaking in their boots, often provoking change even without having to start a Twitter expose. Woe to Jeff Bezos if he intends to duck the issue :