Biden Facebook Attack Followed Months of Frustration

Wall Street Journal: “The administration’s confrontational approach marked a shift for Mr. Biden and his team, which began meeting with social-media companies during the presidential transition in a bid to strengthen protections against misinformation, U.S. officials said. They met with executives including those for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat and Pinterest.”

“But in recent months, the behind-the-scenes discussions with Facebook grew increasingly unproductive, according to the officials, who said they were unsatisfied with the company’s responses to their requests for more information about how it was responding to the influx in misinformation.”

“Convinced that private negotiations had little hope of success, senior Biden administration officials decided to ratchet up public pressure on Facebook this week amid growing concern in the White House with the slowing pace of vaccinations and the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant.”