White House urged to 'cease and desist' social media 'suppression campaigns' after Zuckerberg letter

FIRST ON FOX: A House Oversight subcommittee chair is demanding the Biden administration hand over any documents detailing efforts to suppress information after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg accused the White House of engaging in censorship last month.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who chairs the House Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on cybersecurity, urged the White House to "cease and desist" any such activity with social media platforms in a letter sent to President Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday.

"In the interest of good government, and to ensure the integrity of the upcoming national election, I am writing to request information on any information suppression campaigns in which the Administration is currently engaged," Mace wrote. 

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A side-by-side of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, and U.S. President Joe Biden. (Getty Images)

"I urge you to cease and desist any such activity, and ensure that all employees of the Executive Branch refrain from exerting political pressure on social media companies to censor content in accord with White House preferences."

Facebook founder Zuckerberg wrote to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in late August, alleging that Biden officials "repeatedly pressured our team 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."

It comes after the Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration in a 6-3 decision against the GOP attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, who had accused the White House of colluding with social media companies to suppress free speech.

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Rep. Nancy Mace is leading the inquiry as subcommittee chair of the House Oversight Committee's cybersecurity panel. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, writing for the majority, said there was no "concrete link" between the plaintiffs' accusations and the conduct of government officials, according to SCOTUS Blog.

But Republicans, who had long accused Biden allies of trying to censor social media content with which they disagreed, saw Zuckerberg's letter as vindication of those concerns.

Mace pointed out in her letter that the revelations broke just over two months before Election Day.

"Mr. Zuckerberg’s latest disclosure arrives at a time when the Presidential election contest is getting into full swing—and amid rising concerns of the political influence of social media companies," she wrote.

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"Troubling revelations of how Facebook and Google sites responded to users seeking information on the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt of President Trump in Butler County, Pennsylvania prompted committee Chairman James Comer to write these companies on August 14, 2024 to better understand how and why both companies chose to limit visibility of information about the attempt on the President’s life."

She asked that the White House turn over any records of communication with social media companies to her subcommittee, as well as communications between federal employees about such censorship, by Sept. 25.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

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