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Confirmed

Alphabet tells Congress Biden officials pressed it on COVID content

In a September 23, 2025 letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, Alphabet said Biden administration officials 'pressed' it over COVID-19 content that did not violate its policies. It called that pressure 'unacceptable and wrong,' while saying it kept setting its policies independently. Alphabet also said YouTube would let creators banned under its retired COVID and election policies rejoin and would not empower fact-checkers.

Sep 23, 2025
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Whose side it served: Republicans

The letter supported the Republican-led committee's account of Biden-era pressure and reopened YouTube to banned, mostly right-leaning creators.

What the record shows

AFP and Reason reported the letter said officials 'conducted repeated and sustained outreach to Alphabet' about COVID-19 user content. The letter said the company 'continued to develop and enforce its policies independently.' It said YouTube would provide an opportunity for creators terminated under COVID-19 and election-integrity policies no longer in effect to rejoin; Gizmodo noted YouTube described this as a limited pilot with few details. The letter also said YouTube 'values conservative voices' and stated it has not and will not empower fact-checkers to act on or label content. Jordan posted the letter on X.

In their words

“conducted repeated and sustained outreach to Alphabet”— Alphabet letter to Rep. Jim Jordan · source
“has not and will not empower fact-checkers to take action on or label content”— Alphabet letter to Rep. Jim Jordan, on YouTube · source
The other side

Alphabet did not say any specific removal was wrong or that it had acted under government compulsion; defenders of the Biden administration say officials made requests, not demands. Gizmodo noted YouTube's COVID crackdown began before Biden took office.

Sources

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