Mark Zuckerberg is the chief executive of Meta Platforms Inc., the company behind Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp, Meta Quest, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, Orion augmented reality glasses, and other digital platforms, devices, and services. 

Today, Zuckerberg appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience, the most popular podcast in the world.

The conversation was wide-ranging, but the focus was on Meta’s experience with the Biden administration during the covid years. Zuckerberg’s recent decision to end the Meta fact-checking program was also discussed. Zuck is just one of several tech titans who appear to have shifted to the right to side with the emerging Trump, right-wing, tech-focused movement that supports free speech, cryptocurrency and innovation.

Mark Zuckerberg said “When the Biden administration was trying to roll out the vaccines they tried to censor anyone who tried to argue against it. They pushed us super hard to take down things that were honestly, true. They said that anything saying that vaccines had side effects, we needed to take down. I said that we’re clearly not going to do that.”

Zuck and Rogan in studio, in Austin, Texas. Source: X

As a result, said Zuck, the Biden admin called his employees and “screamed and cursed” at them to take down Covid/vaccine content. They wanted Meta to censor memes too.

When he pushed back, the Biden regime started investigating his companies.

“It was brutal.”

“We had organizations looking into us that weren’t even involved in Social Media,” explained Zuckerberg. “We had the CFPB looking after us. I didn’t even know what that is. It’s some financial institution that Elizabeth Warren set up. We’re not a bank, what does Meta have to do with this? They came up with some theory and were trying really hard to make it work.

“I don’t know how this stuff works — is it a directive? A quiet consensus? It’s tough to be at the other end of that. The US Government should be defending its companies, not at the tip of the spear attacking its companies. The EU has fined tech companies more than $30B over the last 10-20 years. This is a EU wide policy for how they want to deal with tech, it’s kind of like a tariff.” 

Zuckering explained that the US Government led the attacks against their own companies which gave permission for the EU and other countries to go after US companies as well. 

He said “I think that the American tech industry is a bright spot in the US economy, it’s a strategic advantage, and it should be part of the US’ strategy going forward to defend that.”

Zuckerberg says the winds of cultural change have shifted. “I am optimistic that with Trump, I think he just wants the US to win.  At least in the US we have rule of law, you get your day in court, and we usually win, but other countries don’t have that. If the US wants to remain strong, the US has to have a role in defending their tech.”

And on the subject of sunsetting META’s fact checking program, Zuck said he will soon integrate a Community Notes style system. “What Twitter and X have done with Community Notes I think is a better program. Rather than having a small amount of fact checkers you get the whole community to weigh in. You’re showing more information, not less. You’re not using the fact check as a signal to show less, you’re using the community note to provide real context and show additional information. I think that that’s better.”