Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before congress Tuesday afternoon, attempting to answer major public concerns pertaining to his company.
Zuckerberg said multiple times that Facebook is attempting to ban hate speech on the platform and is actively developing artificial intelligence to seek out offensive content.
Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse asked if those policies would affect pro-life conservatives. Zuckerberg did not have an answer.
“Can you define hate speech?” Sasse asked one of the world’s most powerful CEOs bluntly.
“Senator, I think this is a really hard question,” Zuckerberg said, “It’s one of the reasons why we struggle with it.”
“I am worried about the psychological categories,” Sasse replied. “You used the language of safety and protection. We have seen this happen on college campuses. It’s dangerous.”
Sasse cited a poll that said a high proportion of college students believe the First Amendment is “dangerous” because it “might hurt someone else’s feelings.”
“There are some passionately held views about the abortion issue on this panel,” Sasse said. “Can you imagine a world where you might decide that pro-lifers are prohibited from speaking about their abortion views on your platform?”
After a long pause, Zuckerberg said, “I would not want that to be the case.”
“It might be unsettling to people who’ve had an abortion to have an open debate on that, wouldn’t it?” Sasse pressed.
“I do think that’s a question we need to struggle with as a country because I know other countries are in there putting laws in place,” Zuck replied, “I think America needs to figure out and create the principles we want American companies to operate under.”
Sasse did not look satisfied with the response.
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