White House defends censoring Facebook content 'to protect public health'



A White House spokesperson said the Biden administration encouraged Mark Zuckerberg's Meta platform to be responsible, despite the tech entrepreneur saying he was "pressured" to "censor" specific content.

The House Judiciary Committee recently published a letter from Zuckerberg about repeated demands from the Biden-Harris administration to censor content, even satire, related to COVID-19 and vaccines.

'This administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety.'

Zuckerberg wrote that in 2021, "senior officials from the Biden administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn't agree."

When asked, the White House washed its hands of the ordeal and declined to acknowledge Zuckerberg's use of terms regarding censorship and pressure.

"When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety,” a White House spokesperson said, per the Guardian.

The White House official then attributed responsibility to tech platforms for making "independent" choices about the content posted on their apps.

"Our position has been clear and consistent," the statement continued. "We believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present."

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The White House provided the same statement to media members across the board.

The administration's denial of any form of censorship flies in the face of what social media companies such as Elon Musk's X platform, which released the Twitter Files, have learned. Those documents exposed the federal government's interest in suppressing certain stories, such as those related to the Hunter Biden laptop.

Zuckerberg also complained about the same issue in his letter to Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Zuckerberg wrote the "FBI warned" his company about "potential Russian disinformation" regarding the Biden family and Ukrainian energy company Burisma in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election.

The CEO admitted that his team "temporarily demoted" stories posted on his platforms.

He also said it had since been made clear that "the reporting was not Russian disinformation."

Also, during the same term, the Biden-Harris administration attempted to form a Disinformation Governance Board to monitor speech. In 2022, the Department of Homeland Security shut down its controversial disinformation board after widespread backlash that it was reminiscent of Soviet-style control of public discourse.

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Algerian Imane Khelif files complaint with online hate unit over harassment about boxer's gender and image



Controversial Algerian boxer Imane Khelif filed a complaint asking that authorities look into online harassment about the fighter's gender and image.

Khelif made headlines in the first fight of the 2024 Olympics when Angela Carini of Italy forfeited over safety fears from her opponent's overwhelming advantage. Khelif and the International Olympic Committee were assailed on social media after the boxer was approved for fighting despite failing gender tests and being banned from other competitions.

'People have conspired against Algeria.'

Khelif's attorney Nabil Boudi filed a complaint against harassment at the online hate unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office. The New York Times reported that it was unclear where the complaint would lead and how the prosecutor's office would handle the matter.

“This unfair harassment suffered by the boxing champion will remain the biggest stain of these Olympic Games,” said Boudi, who also characterized the harassment as a part of a “misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign.”

Khelif's defenders say the fighter was assigned female at birth and had always identified as a female.

Despite the criticism, Khelif was allowed to fight and went on to defeat China’s Yang Liu on Friday to win the gold medal in women's boxing for Algeria.

Khelif had previously claimed that the online harassment was a conspiracy against Algeria.

"People have conspired against Algeria so that its flag doesn't get raised, and it doesn't win the gold medal," the fighter said.

Rafael Lozano, a former Olympian and current boxing coach for Spain, opined that Khelif had hurt many women during training that he witnessed at a boxing center in Madrid. When put up against males, Khelif appeared to be more equally challenged, according to Lozano.

"From my point of view, I don't see it as fair," he said.

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