Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook is doing the best it can to both be a place where everyone can share their ideas and also feel safe. CNBC reports.
Right now — with emotions running high days after white extremists violently clashed with counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, leaving one woman dead — that’s a painfully delicate task.
And it’s one that Zuckerberg admits Facebook won’t get right all the time.
“It’s important that Facebook is a place where people with different views can share their ideas. Debate is part of a healthy society,” Zuckerberg says in a post he published on his personal Facebook page Wednesday night.
But that does not mean Facebook is granting carte blanche for anyone to post anything he or she professes to believe in.
Facebook and severalother tech companies have taken a decidedly active role in blocking white supremacists from operating on the internet. For example, both GoDaddy and Google canceled the domain registration of a Nazi website, The Daily Stormer. Online payments processor PayPal cut off service to white supremacists groups and Airbnb canceled bookings of people who traveled to the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.
“There is no place for hate in our community. That’s why we’ve always taken down any post that promotes or celebrates hate crimes or acts of terrorism — including what happened in Charlottesville,” Zuckerberg says.
And, Facebook will continue to do so. “With the potential for more rallies, we’re watching the situation closely and will take down threats of physical harm.”