Mark Zuckerberg giving speech on freedom of expression

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to deliver what he says is his most “comprehensive take” yet on freedom of expression Thursday in Washington, amid a roiling controversy over how the company handles political speech.

Zuckerberg’s address at Georgetown University will reflect his lengthy, “unfiltered” views on threats to free speech worldwide and the speech-related problems that the Internet has created, he said in a Facebook post Wednesday.

The billionaire entrepreneur will take questions from students, but not from the press.

In recent weeks, Facebook has found itself at the center of a debate about truthfulness in political ads. The company is under fire for allowing politicians to lie in their campaign advertisements on the platform.

Facebook and many legal experts have defended the company’s right not to censor political candidates, but some critics including Sen. Elizabeth Warren have slammed the company for running what Warren termed a “disinformation-for-profit machine.”

Despite the companies’ efforts, concerns about the tech industry’s handling of offensive speech and disinformation have continued to mount as the 2020 election cycle gets underway.

Facebook has launched a civil rights task force to monitor for election and census interference, and Google has hired some 10,000 employees worldwide to tackle content moderation.

But skeptics say the companies have dragged their feet for too long. At a congressional hearing Wednesday, Oregon Republican Rep. Greg Walden said social media companies have been too “slow to clean up” their platforms while too quick to claim legal immunity for content under a law known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

“Many of our concerns can be readily addressed if companies just enforce their terms of service,” said Walden.