In a recent interview, Snopes CEO Chris Richmond asserted that the U.S. government, not fact-checkers, should bear the responsibility for the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020. Richmond argued that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was merely complying with the administration's directives at the time.

Speaking on MSNBC, Richmond stated, "The most prominent example of Facebook censoring content is the Hunter Biden laptop story. People often point fingers at fact-checkers, claiming they influenced Zuckerberg to limit the story's reach. However, it was the government that prompted Facebook's actions. Fact-checkers became the scapegoat." He linked Zuckerberg's recent decision to end Meta's fact-checking program to a shift in political climate, questioning whether such a move would have occurred under a different administration.

This statement comes days after Zuckerberg announced the termination of the fact-checking initiative on Facebook and Instagram. Richmond expressed support for community-based fact-checking systems like Twitter/X's Community Notes, but criticized Facebook's opaque approach. He advocated for greater transparency, suggesting that eliminating fact-checkers entirely is problematic.

The Hunter Biden laptop story, initially reported by the New York Post in October 2020, faced significant suppression from major tech platforms. Zuckerberg's recent conversation with Joe Rogan shed light on the pressure exerted by the Biden administration on social media companies to censor content, particularly regarding COVID-19 vaccine side effects.

Zuckerberg described instances where Biden administration officials contacted his team, applying intense pressure to remove posts they deemed problematic, even if factually accurate. He characterized the conflict as a stand-off against demands to suppress truthful information. According to Zuckerberg, congressional investigations have substantiated these claims of government pressure.