The meaning behind Mark Zuckerberg’s aggressive plea for ‘free expression’

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg decried the dangers of censorship. He invoked civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass, and hailed the contributions of protesters stretching from World War I to Black Lives Matter. And he delivered a pointed attack on critics who “no longer trust their fellow citizens” to sort out facts from falsehoods online.

The social media mogul’s 37-minute speech Thursday, delivered in a stained-glass hall at Georgetown University, was Facebook’s most assertive effort to date to repel the wave of assaults it’s facing from across the political spectrum. Zuckerberg also attempted to do something he has so far struggled to accomplish — assert that his company is making society better by giving people a free platform for all kinds of content, from their weddings to their acrimonious political views.