Zuckerberg reveals what FBI told Facebook ahead of Hunter Biden laptop story
Center for American Liberty founder Harmeet Dhillon says this demands an investigation on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'
Insider went with a bizarre framing of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's bombshell claim about the FBI during his appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience."
Zuckerberg went viral on Thursday when podcast host Joe Rogan grilled him about Facebook suppressing the reach of the New York Post's reporting of the Hunter Biden laptop during the 2020 presidential election.
He provided revealing "background" on what led to the tech giant's decision.
"Basically, the background here is the FBI, I think, basically came to us- some folks on our team and was like, 'Hey, just so you know, like, you should be on high alert… We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election. We have it on notice that, basically, there's about to be some kind of dump of that's similar to that. So just be vigilant,'" Zuckerberg told Rogan on Thursday's podcast.
Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing examining the company's plan to launch a digital currency on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., October 23, 2019. (REUTERS/Erin Scott)
Zuckerberg went on to explain Facebook's actions, telling Rogan, "We just kind of thought hey look, if the FBI, which I still view is a legitimate institution in this country, it's a very professional law enforcement- they come to us and tell us that we need to be on guard about something then I want to take that seriously."
However, Insider went with the headline: "Mark Zuckerberg tells Joe Rogan he still views the FBI as a 'very legitimate institution' after some Republicans called for it to be defunded following Trump raid."
The raid into Mar-a-Lago was never mentioned in the viral exchange between Zuckerberg and Rogan.
Insider originally framed its story about Mark Zuckerberg's comments as if he defended the FBI from GOP criticism following the raid at Mar-a-Lago. (Twitter)
"Facebook, now Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he thinks the FBI is a ‘legitimate institution’ amid far-right GOP figures calling for the agency to be defunded following its raid of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence," Insider began its report.
The article went on to water down Zuckerberg's comments, writing about Facebook's suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, "Zuckerberg said the FBI had already approached his company, warning them to be on the look-out for polarizing content, just as Russian propaganda made the platform its home around the 2016 US presidential election."
The outlet later changed the headline to, "Joe Rogan asked Mark Zuckerberg if he 'censored' the Hunter Biden laptop story. The CEO used the opportunity to defend the FBI as a 'legitimate institution.'"
Insider did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Insider changed the headline of its story "Joe Rogan asked Mark Zuckerberg if he 'censored' the Hunter Biden laptop story. The CEO used the opportunity to defend the FBI as a 'legitimate institution.'" (Screenshot/Insider)
When asked if there was any "regret" about suppressing a story that turned out be factual, Zuckerberg replied, "Yeah, yeah. I mean, it sucks."
However, he went on to defend Facebook's practices, telling Rogan its process was "pretty reasonable" since his platform still allowed the New York Post articles to be distributed rather than the complete blackout that Twitter enforced.
Rogan appeared sympathetic to Zuckerberg's predicament, especially regarding the FBI's warning of "Russian propaganda."
"It's probably also the case of armchair quarterbacking, right? Or at least Monday morning quarterbacking… because in the moment, you had reason to believe based on the FBI talking to you that it wasn't real and that there was going to be some propaganda. So what do you do?" Rogan said. "And then, if you just let it get out there and what if it changes the election and it turns out to be bulls---, that's a real problem. And I would imagine that those kinds of decisions are the most difficult."
MSNBC BURIES NBC NEWS REPORT ON HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP, OFFERS LESS THAN 4 MINUTES OF COVERAGE
Meta, Facebook's parent company, issued a statement saying "None of this is new. Mark testified before the Senate nearly two years ago that in the lead up to the 2020 election, the FBI warned about the threat of foreign hack and leak operations… We took that seriously, and as Mark said when he testified, we didn't block the New York Post story, we temporarily reduced its distribution to give fact-checking partners time to review it."
In the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election, both Big Tech and the liberal media suppressed the bombshell revelations that emerged from Hunter Biden's laptop.
Both Zuckerberg and then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey expressed regret for their actions limiting the distribution of the New York Post's reporting and several news organizations including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News and Politico have since verified the authenticity of the laptop.
World Food Program USA Board Chairman Hunter Biden (L) and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden award designer Michael Kors (C) the World Food Program USA's McGovern-Dole Leadership Award at Organization of American States on April 12, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for World Food Program USA)
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Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., revealed this week in a letter to Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz that whistleblowers allege FBI officials told agents not to investigate Hunter Biden's laptop for months over concerns it would impact the 2020 election.
According to Johnson, "individuals with knowledge" of the Hunter Biden case told his office that the investigation was intentionally slowed on orders from "local FBI leadership."
Senate Judiciary ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa said other whistleblower allegations reveal a "deeply rooted political infection" within the FBI.
Fox News' Joshua Comins and Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.