Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets bowing to what he calls pressure from the Biden administration to “censor” content on Facebook and Instagram during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to the chairman of a U.S. House committee, he said some of the material — including humor and satire — had been removed in 2021 under pressure from senior officials.

The White House has defended its actions, saying it encourages “responsible actions to protect public health and safety.”

Zuckerberg also said his company briefly “downgraded” content related to Joe Biden’s son Hunter ahead of the 2020 election after the FBI warned of “a potential Russian disinformation operation.”

It later became clear that this content was not part of any such operation, Zuckerberg said, and therefore should not have been temporarily removed.

Mr. Zuckerberg did not provide further details about the actions he regretted during the pandemic. At the time, his company was removing posts for various reasons.

Zuckerberg said the decisions made were his company’s decisions, but that “government pressure was wrong.”

He continued: “We made choices that, given what we know now and the new information, we would not make again.”

Zuckerberg said he and Meta are prepared to “fight back” if something similar happens in the future.

His letter was addressed to Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating content moderation on online platforms. Republicans said the letter was a “great victory for freedom of speech“.

In a statement issued to the website Politicothe White House continued to stand behind his actions.

It said: “Our position is clear and consistent: We believe that technology companies and other private actors must consider the effects their actions have on the American people while making independent choices about the information they present.”

Zuckerberg’s comments about Hunter Biden reference the story of a laptop left behind by the president’s son at a Delaware repair shop — as first reported by the New York Post.

According to the newspaper, emails found on the computer suggested that his business dealings abroad had influenced US foreign policy when his father was vice president.

The president and his family deny any wrongdoing.

The story became a prominent right-wing talking point in the US and a point of contention as some social media platforms censored the content.

Zuckerberg said the story was temporarily demoted from his platforms while a fact check was conducted, following an FBI warning about a potential Russian disinformation campaign. “In hindsight, we should not have demoted the story,” Zuckerberg wrote.

“We have changed our policies and processes to ensure this does not happen again.”

Zuckerberg also said he has no plans to contribute any further to support election infrastructure.

In 2020, he donated $400 million (£302 million) through his philanthropic Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which was aimed at helping government agencies manage elections during the pandemic.

However, misinformation quickly spread on social media, accusing Zuckerberg of effectively exploiting a loophole to circumvent maximum donation limits in an attempt to get Biden elected.

Zuckerberg said his donations were “intended to be impartial.”

“Despite the analyses I’ve seen that show otherwise, I know some people believe this work favored one party over the other.

“My goal is to be neutral and not play any role — or even appear to play any role — so I don’t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle.”