Facebook expresses regret over censorship during Covid

Facebook has expressed regret over the censorship it practised during Covid.

In a statement by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the platform also says it regrets having been misled by disinformation coming from the US Deep State (including the FBI) - designed to give Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden an electoral advantage over his rival Donald Trump in 2020.

Factually accurate analyses, including on the Biden family's dubious links with Ukrainian off-shoring company Burisma, were strictly banned on Facebook, but, according to Zuckerberg, ‘The reporting was not Russian disinformation’ as the FBI and 50 intelligence experts had claimed.

In his letter of 26 August 2024, addressed to the US Congress, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that in the future he would no longer be guided by (apparently untrustworthy) government actors but instead wanted to restore the politically-neutral nature of the platform.

Although this comes all very late, and although one might doubt the sincerity of his ‘repentance’, we should welcome and embrace this statement by Zuckerberg. The censorship which has descended across the board in the Western world since Covid must stop.

With Telegram CEO Pavel Durov thrown in jail for refusing to allow secret services access to his messaging platform, and Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovksi fleeing Europe because he feared the same tyrannical measures against him and his uncensored streaming platform, this post on Facebook's new policy offers a very welcome counterpoint.

Never in history has censorship been applied by those who had the truth on their side or were sincerely seeking it. Those who dare to face reality with an open mind, those who really want to know how things work, which interests come into play and what is best for the country, the people and society as a whole, have nothing to fear from critical questions,  comments, remarks or research.

How nice it would be if Dutch mainstream journalists also engaged in similar critical self-reflection - and following Facebook's lead, now reconsider the censorship they have instituted on Covid, vaccines, Ukrainian corruption and Hunter Biden's laptop, among others.

Our democracy needs nothing so intensely as open debate in a spirit of humility and self-criticism.