Zucker-Bucks Under Pressure

Mark Zuckerberg is bending under GOP pressure.

On Monday, the Meta boss sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by the conspiracy-peddling Jim Jordan, criticizing President Joe Biden's administration for "repeatedly pressuring" his company to "censor" content related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it," Zuckerberg wrote to Jordan, the Republican who has leveraged his powerful government perch to intimidate private companies. "I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn't make today."

But Zuckerberg didn’t stop there.

The tech billionaire told Jordan that throttling the New York Post’s Hunter Biden story was a mistake. And he announced that he will no longer donate to support election infrastructure, as he did in 2020. Although Zuckerberg emphasized the goal with his election infrastructure donations had been nonpartisan, aimed solely at helping people exercise their right to vote, he suggested that misleading narratives — which have been pushed by dishonest Republicans — forced him to reconsider.

"Despite analyses I've seen showing otherwise, I know that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other," Zuckerberg wrote to Jordan. "My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another—or to even appear to be playing a role. So I don't plan on making a similar contribution this year."

Zuckerberg's letter was a gift to Republicans, just months before the high stakes November election. The House Judiciary Committee quickly celebrated on X, posting a message proclaiming that Zuckerberg had "admitted" the supposed truth behind key narratives it has been pushing.

"Big win for free speech," the committee added.

In response, the White House issued a boilerplate statement, asserting its belief that social media companies "should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people while making independent choices about the information they present."

What the White House didn't say — but is glaringly obvious — is that Zuckerberg appears to be on a mission to signal to the GOP that he shouldn't be their top villain. Whether it’s referring to Trump's post-assassination behavior as "badass" or playing into the Hunter Biden and Covid narratives championed by Republicans, Zuckerberg is clearly seeking to remove the target from his back.

Notably, Zuckerberg's GOP-friendly behavior comes after Trump publicly threatened to target him, should he find his way back into the Oval Office. In early July, Trump warned on Truth Social that if he is elected, he will "pursue Election Fraudsters at levels never seen before, and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time."

"We already know who you are," Trump wrote. "DON'T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!"

While Zuckerberg has not directly responded to Trump's threat, his public comments in recent weeks speak volumes. As Kara Swisher observed on Threads, "He must worry that he has to protect himself in the case of Trump winning, especially after the attacks on him personally."

It’s, frankly, pitiful behavior. Zuckerberg is one of the most powerful human beings on the planet. He doesn’t have to bend the knee to dishonest politicians like Jordan. He could put up a fight and refuse to submit to bad faith actors on the right. He could serve as an example for the business community, showing that it is possible to push back when picked on for political purposes. That strong leadership can exist in a world too void of it. But, instead, he is choosing the easy way out.