Mark Zuckerberg Reveals How Facebook Used Algorithm To Suppress Hunter Biden Laptop Issue During 2020 Election

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, stated that the FBI approached Facebook with a warning about "Russian propaganda" before the explosive Hunter Biden laptop story in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.

On Thursday's episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience,' Zuckerberg was challenged about Facebook's censorship of the New York Post's reporting on the son of then-candidate Joe Biden's dubious overseas business activities.

FBI Requested Facebook To Suppress Hunter Biden Laptop Story

Zuckerberg began by emphasizing how Facebook followed a different course than Twitter, which blocked The Washington Post's reporting while Facebook limited its reach on the site.

When asked if he regretted hiding a narrative that turned out to be true, Mark Zuckerberg concurred. However, he went on to defend Facebook's procedures, telling Rogan that its approach was "quite reasonable" because his platform still enabled the New York Post stories to be circulated, as opposed to Twitter's total ban, according to Fox News.

Before the November 2020 election, the FBI warned Meta workers to be aware of Russian propaganda. That was around the time the New York Post reported on the shady contents of Hunter Biden's computer - and Twitter banned it.

More than 50 former senior intelligence officials signed a statement at the time alleging the laptop tale bore all the hallmarks of a Russian propaganda campaign. During the interview on Thursday, Zuckerberg sought to divert attention by stating that Twitter had restricted the spreading of the news and had locked the Post's account.

According to Zuckerberg, if anything is reported as disinformation, a third-party fact-checking team evaluates if it is misinformation. Rogan then questioned Zuckerberg about what he meant by "decreased dissemination," and he responded that it meant the item will display lower on people's newsfeeds.

Rogan inquired about the proportion of the distribution's drop. He also pressed further, inquiring about the consequences of hiding the tale, which proved out to be true. Conservatives condemned Twitter's censorship of the story both before and after the 2020 presidential election, as per Daily News.

Zuckerberg Takes Swipe at Twitter Over Hunter Biden Laptop Story

The internet CEO also took a few jabs at Twitter, calling the rival social network's ban too black and white. Twitter momentarily disabled The Post's account in 2020 after the laptop revelation disclosed the existence of tens of thousands of emails between the president's son and business partners. The emails exposed how Biden's son used his political connections to his advantage in his international business operations.

Republicans have also accused Facebook of stifling conservative views. The tech CEO confirmed that dissemination of the news on Facebook was significantly curtailed after its first release.

In a subsequent segment of the almost three-hour podcast conversation with Rogan, Zuckerberg took another shot at Twitter, stating that it's impossible to spend time on the network without becoming too irritated, contrasting it with Instagram, which is owned by his firm. According to Zuckerberg, it is simple to spend time on Instagram and absorb a lot of optimism, New York Post reported.