Fact check: Zuckerberg’s ‘manipulated’ Covid vaccine video goes viral after he makes allegations against Biden-Harris

Meta’s CEO acknowledged Monday that he regrets working with the Biden administration as it pressured Facebook to censor COVID-19 content, an admission outlined in a letter that Republicans seized on as alleged evidence of the administration’s crackdown on free speech.

Leaked video of Zuckerberg warns employees against using vaccines

A leaked 2021 video of Meta/Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talking about COVID-19 vaccines is circulating online. The footage was originally shared in 2023 by Twitter user James Cintolo (@healthbyjames).

“I share some caution here because we simply don’t know the long-term side effects of modifying people’s DNA and RNA, essentially encoding the ability to produce these antibodies directly in a person’s DNA and RNA, nor do we know whether that leads to further mutations or other risks,” Meta’s CEO is heard saying. (HT cannot confirm the authenticity of the video.)

Some argued that the video came from an internal Facebook question-and-answer session in July 2020, when the pandemic had just begun and it would still be several months before COVID-19 vaccines would be available.

Internet reacts

The video has resurfaced on social media platforms, and people are criticizing the Facebook CEO for his lies and censorship. “Never forget that Mark Zuckerberg knew the effects of the mRNA vaccine and yet continued to censor the truth about it on Facebook,” one person commented.

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“Zuckerberg warns his employees about getting the vaccine but continues to recommend it to the masses…” wrote another. “Mark Zuckerberg warns his employees about the COVID vaccines but uses his platform to censor people who talk about the same thing he warned his employees about,” added another.

What is the truth?

The leaked video, originally released by Project Veritas in February 2021, has been taken out of context. It does not show Zuckerberg warning his employees about COVID-19 vaccines. At the time, Zuckerberg was still learning about mRNA vaccines. The original video included more footage, but was later edited to fit Twitter’s time constraints. Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe claimed the video was leaked by an insider who wanted to expose Zuckerberg’s alleged betrayal of Facebook’s values.

In February 2023, a transcript of Zuckerberg’s full response surfaced on fact-checking website Snopes. This transcript revealed missing contextual information from the original leaked video.

“There was a positive announcement from Moderna this week about their – you know, their first round of testing. It was a safety test for 45 people. So far, no one has had any bad side effects. But I have to say, there are several different paths to a vaccine here,” the video reportedly began with this statement.

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Zuckerberg blames Biden-Harris for censorship of Covid-19 content

Zuckerberg was upset that the administration was trying to pressure the social media companies to do its bidding and said he was sorry they had given in. In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee on Monday, he said people in the White House had long asked his team to block certain content about Covid-19.

“I believe the government’s pressure was wrong and I regret that we did not speak more clearly about it,” he said in a letter.