Zuckerberg Declares "Political Donations Halt" This Year After 500 Billion KRW Four Years Ago

Jordan, Chairman of the Legislative Committee, in a letter: "Aim for Political Neutrality"
"White House Pressure on COVID-19 Content Censorship Is Wrong"

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, has announced a halt to political donations.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 26th (local time), Zuckerberg stated in a letter sent to Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (Republican, Ohio), "My goal is to remain politically neutral."

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, is arriving in Seoul through the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center in Gangseo-gu on the 27th. Visiting Korea for the first time in 10 years, CEO Zuckerberg is expected to meet President Yoon Suk-yeol and discuss AI semiconductor cooperation plans with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan during his 1-night, 2-day stay. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

During the 2020 presidential election, CEO Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan were major donors, contributing over $400 million (approximately 532.1 billion KRW) to nonprofit organizations that helped conduct the election amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many local governments used Zuckerberg's donations for voter registration, setting up socially distanced polling stations, and providing mail ballot sorting equipment. However, the Republican side criticized Zuckerberg's donations as "Zuckerbucks," a term combining Zuckerberg's name and "bucks," implying that his contributions favored Democratic supporters.

In the letter, CEO Zuckerberg said, "Despite the analyses I have seen, some people believe this effort benefits one party," adding, "My goal is to maintain political neutrality and not play any (political) role in any way. I even emphasize that it should not appear that I am playing any role." He further stated, "I do not plan to donate similarly in this election as I did in the last one."

Chairman Jordan has expressed negative views about Zuckerberg in the Judiciary Committee, claiming that Facebook applies unfair standards to conservative users or posts.

Zuckerberg appeared to attempt improving relations with the Republican Party in the letter. Regarding the blocking of a New York Post article link reporting on the so-called "Ukraine scandal" involving Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's second son, ahead of the 2020 presidential election, he said, "It has become clear that the report was not Russian disinformation, and in hindsight, we should not have blocked that article."

The link was blocked following Democratic claims that the allegation that Hunter Biden introduced a Ukrainian energy company executive to his father, then Vice President, was a Russian operation. It was later revealed that there was no connection to Russia. The link blocking at the time provoked strong backlash from former President Trump and the Republican Party.

Additionally, Zuckerberg revealed that during the 2021 pandemic, there was pressure from the White House to censor COVID-19 related humor and satire content. CEO Zuckerberg said, "I believe the government's pressure was wrong," and added, "I should have opposed it more clearly at the time."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.