Washington DC - Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recently claimed that the US government put "pressure" on his social media platforms to censor certain content regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Monday, the House Committee on the Judiciary shared a letter Zuckerberg sent to their chairman, Jim Jordan, in which he revealed that President Joe Biden's administration was behind the requests.

"In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain Covid-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn't agree," Zuckerberg wrote.

The CEO admitted that it was ultimately up to Meta, Facebook's parent company, to decide how to handle content moderation but noted that he did not agree with the requests.

"I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it," Zuckerberg continued.

"I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction," he added, "and we're ready to push back if something like this happens again."

Jordan and the House Judiciary Committee have long accused the Biden administration and the White House of colluding with big tech and social media platforms to censor speech, particularly that which appeals to conservative audiences.

In a statement provided to Politico, the White House defended its efforts to gain control of the narratives during the pandemic, arguing that they "encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety."

"Our position has been clear and consistent: we believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present," the White House added.