Zuckerberg Admits “Fact-Checkers” Censored Information That Turned Out to Be True
Corporate Media & Big Tech were mistaken in censoring skeptical viewpoints
BECKER NEWS
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that Facebook’s “fact-checkers” have censored information that was actually true, leading to a loss of trust.
During an interview on the “Lex Fridman Podcast,” Zuckerberg disclosed that Facebook and Instagram had censored skeptics of the Covid pandemic without substantial evidence to prove the claims false. However, subsequent developments have shown that much of the so-called “misinformation” was either true or subject to debate.
Zuckerberg acknowledged the challenges of identifying misinformation on social media and conceded that the corporate media and Big Tech were mistaken in censoring skeptical viewpoints.
Mark Zuckerberg says it was challenging to censor COVID misinformation because the scientific establishment was frequently wrong, which ultimately undermined public trust:
“Just take some of the stuff around COVID earlier in the pandemic where there were real health… pic.twitter.com/y0ZaX4kmCE
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) June 9, 2023
“So misinformation, I think, has been a really tricky one because there are things that are obviously false, right, or they may be factual but may not be harmful,” said Zuckerberg.
“So are you gonna censor someone for just being wrong? If there’s no kind of harm implication of what they’re doing? There’s a bunch of real issues and challenges there.”
“Just take some of the stuff around COVID earlier in the pandemic where there were real health implications, but there hadn’t been time to fully vet a bunch of the scientific assumptions,” he continued.
“Unfortunately, I think a lot of the kind of establishment on that kind of waffled on a bunch of facts and asked for a bunch of things to be censored that, in retrospect, ended up being more debatable or true,” he added. “And that stuff is really tough, right?”
“It really undermines trust,” Zuckerberg said.
Facebook’s fact-checkers have faced accusations of suppressing legitimate information that contradicts the preferred narrative of certain political groups, often overriding scientific experts and renowned authorities to stifle dissenting opinions. There has been additional criticism, such as the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story just before the 2020 presidential election.
During an interview with Joe Rogan in August, Zuckerberg mentioned that Facebook restricted the reach of the Hunter Biden laptop story under pressure from the FBI. The bureau had alerted them to the potential release of Russian disinformation aimed at harming Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
Zuckerberg stated that, considering the FBI’s reputation as a legitimate and professional law enforcement institution, they took the warning seriously and acted in accordance with the FBI’s guidelines on Russian disinformation. He did not recall whether the FBI explicitly identified the Hunter Biden laptop story as disinformation at that time.
Whether it was the bogus overstatements of mask efficacy for stopping the spread of the virus, the false claims that getting vaccinated will stop transmission and protect one’s family and community, or the gross exaggerations of the effectiveness of lockdowns, social media platforms like Meta engaged in a deceptive propaganda campaign that has wrought immense damage to the fabric of American society.
It is refreshing to see a Big Tech CEO admit to propagating the Big Lies. But the damage is already done.
**********
(TLB) published this article from Becker News as compiled and written by Kyle Becker
Kyle Becker is Becker News CEO. Former Writer & Associate Producer at Fox News for #1 top-rated prime-time cable news show. Former Director of Viral Media and Senior Managing Editor for award-winning startup website IJReview, which grew to a readership of 20-30 million Americans a month. Led editorial and social media team that was #1 ranked news & politics publisher on Facebook. Writer whose thousands of digital articles have been read by over 100 million unique users.
Header featured image (edited) credit: Hand/cell phone/illustration Christine Daniloff, MIT
Emphasis and pictorial content added by (TLB)
••••
••••
Stay tuned to …
••••
The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)
••••
Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.
••••
Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.
••••
Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
From the beginning it was easy to see the pandemic was more about world domination than it was about germs. I believe the people running social media know it but are on the side of domination so their job was to erase the handwriting on the wall.