Well, there you have it. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has confirmed that Facebook did indeed censor news of the New York Post’s 2020 Hunter Biden laptop story.

But The Zuck had a rather curious tale to tell. Appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience, Zuckerberg was questioned by Rogan on Facebook’s approach to fake news and misinformation. In the discussion, the question of Hunter Biden’s laptop arose.

Zuckerberg told Rogan that Facebook had been approached, shortly before the 2020 US presidential election, by shadowy figures from the FBI, who bore foreboding news that a malodorous misinformation ‘dump’ was about to drop.

Lo and behold – a scandalous story hit the headlines. Or rather it didn’t. The New York Post reported that a laptop belonging to Hunter, son of the now President, held evidence of dodgy dealings within the House of Biden, along with a brothel-sized pile of content featuring the President’s son and his friends.

Such a story should have been a serious blow to the Biden campaign. Facebook, Zuckerberg recounted, took heed of the FBI’s warnings and had the story’s distribution decreased.

Zuckerberg was keen to point out that he had been as much of a good boy as he could have been, comparing Facebook’s approach to that of Twitter’s, (presumably having received the same news from the FBI) who shut down the story outright and banned the New York Post’s account.

When Rogan inquired about the extent of the censorship, an uneasy Zuckerberg forgot the specifics, but said that it had been ‘meaningful’. He then jumped to defend himself, exclaiming that there were many who didn’t believe Facebook had cracked down hard enough.

But here’s the thing. It’s known that the FBI had Hunter’s laptop in 2019. That means that they knew its contents were authentic. Mr S has been left stroking his chin, wondering whether the FBI, which just a few days ago raided Donald Trump’s property in Mar a Lago, might now have to answer some questions of its own. Steerpike awaits new developments.