Meta publicly apologized to Republican lawmakers for not resisting Biden administration pressure to remove content, while Google defended its independent decision-making process during a tense Senate hearing Wednesday. The stark contrast reveals how tech companies are repositioning themselves under Trump's return to power, with billions in lobbying and settlement money at stake.
Meta just threw itself at the mercy of Republican lawmakers in what amounts to a full-scale apology tour over content moderation decisions made during the Biden years. During Wednesday's Senate Commerce Committee hearing on government "jawboning" of tech platforms, Meta VP of Public Policy Neil Potts delivered a carefully crafted mea culpa that seemed designed to reset the company's relationship with the incoming Trump administration.
"We believe the government pressure was wrong and wish we had been more outspoken about it," Potts said in written remarks that landed like a political bombshell. "We should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction, and we're ready to push back if something like this happens again."
The admission comes as Meta has already poured millions into Trump's inauguration fund and settled a lawsuit over Trump's account suspension following January 6th. Just weeks ago, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would abandon fact-checking entirely, addressing years of conservative criticism about platform bias.
Google took a markedly different approach. VP of Government Affairs Markham Erickson stood firm on the company's content moderation process, telling senators that evaluating and often rejecting government requests is simply "business as usual." The search giant regularly hears from governments worldwide about content they want removed, he explained, and sometimes says no - including to Biden administration requests.
"No matter how the information comes to us, we feel a responsibility and are proud of the way we handle those communications to make independent decisions," Erickson testified. The contrast couldn't have been starker - while Meta essentially prostrated itself before Republican lawmakers, Google maintained its stance as an independent arbiter.
The hearing served as a preview for Senator Ted Cruz's upcoming JAWBONE Act, legislation designed to create transparency around government communications with tech companies and allow people who believe they've been wrongly censored to collect damages. All four witnesses expressed general support for Cruz's approach, though they haven't seen the final text.
