Meta Problematic

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Meta Problematic

WORLD

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg had a chance late last year to stand up to the communist leaders of Vietnam. Instead, as the Washington Post explained, he blinked.

Vietnamese officials asked Zuckerberg to stop the posts of government critics. Refusing their requests could have jeopardized more than $1 billion in annual revenues. Zuckerberg proceeded to censor “anti-state” posts, curtailing free speech, according to human rights activists.

In some countries, such as the US, critics of Facebook charge that the company overreaches in its acceptance of free speech to the point that the social network disseminates misinformation. Around the world, as the whistleblower who released the so-called Facebook Papers suggested, the Silicon Valley company’s actions have been equally controversial but often more complex.

For example, in India, the ...