Zuckerberg said in an episode of Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” that aired Thursday that the FBI contacted his company ahead of the 2020 presidential election to warn them to be mindful of potentially polarizing content. That warning came after Russia used social media platforms, including Facebook, to post content intended to polarize ahead of the 2016 election. Zuckerberg said he took the warning seriously. He said the social media platform did not ban people from sharing the Post’s story, but took action to limit how often the story appeared in feeds. The Post reported shortly before the 2020 election that the FBI obtained a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden as part of a federal investigation into him. Former President Trump and some of his allies seized on the report at the time, as it showed evidence that Hunter was involved in questionable business dealings while his father was serving as vice president. Some of the emails on the laptop have since been confirmed as authentic, but no wrongdoing by the president or his son has been confirmed. The investigation into Hunter Biden reached a turning point last month as prosecutors consider whether to file charges, CNN reported. White House to Meet with State and Local Leaders on Abortion Protection Moderna Sues Pfizer-BioNTech Over COVID-19 Vaccine Patents Zuckerberg said he did not recall whether the FBI specifically mentioned the Post story in its warning. He said he doesn’t want Facebook to be the “ministry of truth” in deciding what counts as misinformation. His defense of the FBI as “legitimate” comes as many conservatives have criticized the agency for conducting a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida earlier this month. As a result, some Trump allies have called for the FBI to be defunded.
