Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Year : 2, Issue: 20
Anadolu Agency: Social media censorship and the influence of US administration officials on social media companies have reignited debates over platform independence.
The relationship between US-based social media companies and the administration has long been contentious, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s comments on censorship continuing to resonate.
In a recent interview on the Joe Rogan podcast, Zuckerberg said the Biden administration had attempted to censor anti-vaccine voices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These people from the Biden administration would call up our team, scream at them and curse,” he said.
– Snowden exposed connection between social media and US government
Computer expert and former CIA systems administrator Edward Snowden’s leaks in 2013 first exposed the collaboration between social media companies and the US government, shedding light on government influence over these platforms.
– State pressure on Twitter over COVID-19 censorship
While Snowden’s disclosures captured widespread attention, discussions about the relationship between social media and the state faded until 2022, when Elon Musk acquired Twitter, now known as X.
The release of the “Twitter Files” brought the issue back into the spotlight.
The 10th disclosure, made by Free Press reporter David Zweig, revealed that US administrations had pressured multiple tech giants including Twitter, Facebook, Google and Microsoft over their handling of COVID-19 content.
Zweig noted that while the Trump administration raised concerns about content potentially inciting panic early in the pandemic, the Biden administration similarly pressured companies to promote its public health message, saying “be very afraid of Covid and do exactly what we say to stay safe.”
