Washington - Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly asserted that senior officials from the Biden administration pressured Facebook to censor certain content related to COVID-19 during the pandemic. In a letter to Jim Jordan, the Republican Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg detailed allegations of ongoing pressure over several months to remove content, including humor and satire related to COVID-19.

Zuckerberg expressed regret in the August 26 letter, stating, "I believe the government pressure was inappropriate, and I regret that we were not more outspoken at the time." He confirmed that the social media company would oppose such demands if they were to occur again.

The revelations emerged in a correspondence where Zuckerberg criticized the officials' persistent requests, noting that when Facebook resisted complying, it led to "considerable frustration" among the officials. This letter was also shared on the committee's Facebook page and on its account on 'X'.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has ascended to the third spot on the list of the world's richest people, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index. This marks a significant shift, as it's the first time Zuckerberg has cracked the top three since 2020.

The rise comes at the expense of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose wealth has seen a decline this year. As of April 6th, Zuckerberg's net worth sits at a staggering $187 billion, surpassing Musk's $181 billion. This shift in rankings highlights the contrasting fortunes of the two tech titans.

Zuckerberg's wealth has seen a significant jump of $58.9 billion this year, likely driven by the success of Meta Platforms Inc. In contrast, Musk's wealth has shrunk by $48.4 billion, potentially due to challenges faced by Tesla.

France's Bernard Arnault remains firmly in the top spot with a net worth of $223 billion. While no Indian billionaires feature in the top ten, Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries) and Gautam Adani hold the 11th and 14th positions, respectively.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index provides daily updates on the world's 500 wealthiest individuals, offering valuable insights into the ever-shifting landscape of global wealth.

San Francisco, July 6 (IANS) After Meta launched Twitter-rival 'Threads', Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter-owner Elon Musk have started an online battle before their anticipated cage fight -- dubbed as the fight of the century.

Meta launched its 'Threads' application on Wednesday for Android and iOS users in 100 countries, which aims to challenge Twitter.

In response to a query posted by mixed martial artist Mike Davis on 'Threads', Zuckerberg said that he thinks there should be a public conversations app with more than one billion users on it.

"Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will," he added.

To this, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said," Whoa whoa whoa whoa. let's get through week one first..."

When another mixed martial artist Max Holloway posted, "Glad to be here. They both op to be honest."

"I suppose we do have multiple combatants in the arena," Meta CEO replied.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, Musk made fun of an image posted by a user featuring a keyboard having only three keys -- Ctrl, C and V -- with a caption, "Meta's new app was built entirely using this keyboard."

Also, Musk said, "It's infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram."

He said this in a reply to a tweet mentioning his email from 2018 in which he had said, "I just deleted my Instagram. Weak sauce."

As the anticipation for their cage fight grows, Zuckerberg and Musk's ongoing online duel highlights their competitive nature.

The talk of the fight initially started when Musk last month replied to a tweet about the news that Meta was releasing a Twitter competitor.

"I'm sure Earth can't wait to be exclusively under Zuck's thumb with no other options. At least it will be 'sane'. Was worried there for a moment."

To this, a user replied, "Better be careful @elonmusk I heard he does the jiu jitsu now".

"I'm up for a cage match if he is lol," the Twitter-owner replied.

Then, Zuckerberg posted a screenshot of the Tesla CEO's tweet with the caption "send me location".

Later, both were seen training jiu jitsu with Lex Fridman, host of the famous Lex Fridman Podcast, individually.

On Tuesday, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will lay off an additional 10,000 employees in several rounds of job cuts in the coming months. In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg stated that the company will also close around 5,000 additional open roles that it has not yet filled. Meta's goal is to reduce its team size by approximately 10,000 people as part of its "Year of Efficiency."

Meta stated in a separate filing with the US SEC that the new job cuts will decrease the high end of its expense guidance for the year by $3 billion. Over the next few months, the company's leaders will announce restructuring plans that focus on flattening the organization, cancelling lower priority projects, and reducing hiring rates.

Zuckerberg stated that the company will inform recruiting team members the following day about whether they will be impacted. The company expects to announce restructurings and layoffs in its tech groups in late April and in its business groups in late May. In a small number of cases, it may take until the end of the year to complete these changes.

Meta's CEO stated that the company plans to lift hiring and transfer freezes in each group after the restructuring. The company will make the organization flatter by removing multiple layers of management. As part of this, Meta will ask many managers to become individual contributors. "We'll also have individual contributors report into almost every level—not just the bottom—so information flow between people doing the work and management will be faster," Zuckerberg noted.

The company's fresh cuts come just four months after it laid off 11,000 employees, or 13% of the company, in November last year.