Mark Zuckerberg defended Facebook's policy of letting politicians run political ads, along with the right to free speech, in a speech he gave at Georgetown University.
I don't think it's right for a private company to censor politicians.
Zuckerberg's speech, which was a rallying cry for the First Amendment at a time when freedom of expression is under siege worldwide, acknowledged the fact that Facebook profits from misinformation, and stated that this is why the company decided to allow inaccurate ads to remain on the platform:
Given the sensitivity surrounding political ads, I’ve wondered if we should stop allowing them altogether. From a business perspective, the controversy is certainly not worth the small portion of profit they bring to our business. But political ads are an important part of expression – especially for local candidates, challengers and diverse advocacy groups who may not get the attention they need from other media outlets.
Throughout his speech, Zuckerberg portrayed Facebook's policies as the result of ethical choices rather than business decisions.
“Banning political advertising favors the establishment and whoever the media covers,” he said, noting that the solution is to monitor who is publishing the content, not the content itself.
You can put forward controversial things, but you should back them up with your true identity and face responsibility.
Zuckerberg's comments come as Facebook faces serious problems with the spread of misinformation. The world's largest social network is currently under investigation by the Justice Department and 40 attorneys general for possible antitrust violations. Politicians Josh Hawley and Elizabeth Warren have called for the company to be broken up.
Warren is calling for a change in policy on political ads run by the platform, saying they have turned it into a "misinformation-profit machine.".
For Zuckerberg, the phenomenon is nothing more than the cost of free expression.
I don't think people want to live in a world where we can only publish things that tech companies deem to be 100 percent true. I think there should be misinformation for more free expression.
