A 2021 leaked video of Zuckerberg discussing COVID-19 vaccines has reappeared online. He expressed concerns about modifying DNA and RNA.
A ‘leaked video' featuring Mark Zuckerberg warning about the potential dangers of the COVID-19 vaccine has resurfaced, just hours after he accused the Biden-Harris administration of censoring information related to the pandemic. However, the video has been taken out of context.
Meta's CEO acknowledged on Monday that he regretted working with the Biden administration, which had pressured Facebook to censor COVID-19 content. This admission, detailed in a letter, has been seized upon by Republicans as supposed evidence of the administration's crackdown on free speech.
Zuckerberg's leaked video warning staff against vaccine use
A leaked video from 2021, featuring Meta/Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussing COVID-19 vaccines, has been circulating online. The footage was initially shared by Twitter user James Cintolo (@healthbyjames) in 2023.
“I share some caution on this, because we just don't know the long-term side effects of basically modifying people's DNA and RNA to directly encode in a person's DNA and RNA basically the ability to produce those antibodies, and whether that causes other mutations or other risks downstream,” the Meta CEO can be heard saying.
Some argued that the video came from a Facebook in-house Q&A session in July 2020, right when the pandemic was just starting and COVID-19 vaccines were still a few months from hitting the shelves.
Internet reacts
The video has resurfaced on social media platforms, with people criticizing the Facebook CEO for lying and censoring. “Never forget how Mark Zuckerberg knew the effects of the mRNA vaccine and continued to censor the truth about it on Facebook anyway,” one person commented.
“Zuckerberg warns staff not to take the vaccine, yet continues advocating it to the masses…,” wrote another. “This is Mark Zuckerberg warning his staff about the COVID vaccines, yet he used his platform to censor people who spoke about the same thing he warned his employees about,” added another.
What's the truth?
The leaked video, originally published by Project Veritas in February 2021, has been taken out of context. It does not depict Zuckerberg warning his staff against COVID-19 vaccines. At the time, Zuckerberg was still learning about mRNA vaccines. The original video contained more footage, but it was later edited to comply with Twitter's time restrictions. Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe claimed that the video was leaked by an insider who wanted to expose Zuckerberg's alleged betrayal of Facebook's values.
A transcript of Zuckerberg's complete answer surfaced in February 2023 through the fact-checking website Snopes. This transcript revealed missing context from the originally leaked video.
“There was a positive announcement by Moderna about their – you know, their first round of trials this week. It was a safety trial for 45 people. No one has any bad side effects yet. But I have to say, there are a couple of different paths to a vaccine here,” the video allegedly started with this statement.
Zuckerberg blames Biden-Harris for censoring Covid 19 content
Zuckerberg was upset about the government trying to push social media companies to do what they wanted, saying he was sorry they gave in. In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee on Monday, he said that people from the White House had been asking his team for a long time to block certain content about COVID-19.
“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” he said in a letter.
