A day after the horrendous terror attack on Paris-based satirical mag Charlie Hebdo killed 12 people and injured many, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that a Pakistan-based extremist had fought to have him sentenced to death as he continued to reject all the attempts by the extremist groups to censor the online content on the social networking site.
In a status update on Facebook on Saturday, Zuckerberg said, “A few years ago, an extremist in Pakistan fought to have me sentenced to death because Facebook refused to ban content about Muhammad that offended him.”
“We stood up for this because different voices — even if they’re sometimes offensive — can make the world a better and more interesting place,” Zuckerberg wrote in the post.
The social networking site has faced severe criticism in the past for failing to remove online content including decapitation videos that are deemed offensive.
But it seems nothing can make adamant Zuckerberg change his stand and he vows to keep Facebook outside the influence of the extremists.
“Facebook has always been a place where people across the world share their views and ideas. We follow the laws in each country, but we never let one country or group of people dictate what people can share across the world.
Yet as I reflect on yesterday’s attack and my own experience with extremism, this is what we all need to reject — a group of extremists trying to silence the voices and opinions of everyone else around the world. I won’t let that happen on Facebook. I’m committed to building a service where you can speak freely without fear of violence,” according to Zuckerberg’s post.
Facebook’s Q&A event
In another development, the Facebook users in Latin America will get a chance to converse with Zuckerberg pose their questions next week when the CEO will head toward Bogota, Colombia, for the first international townhall Q&A of the social networking company.
The Q&A event will also uncover several new information about the Internet.org plans of Facebook in the region.
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