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Why Conservatives Loved Mark Zuckerberg’s Georgetown Speech
It justified a status quo that favors Donald Trump
Mark Zuckerberg’s speech at Georgetown last week didn’t go over well with civil rights groups, academics and researchers, Democratic presidential candidates, tech journalists, or tech policy experts. Even leading free speech advocates found it disappointing.
But there was at least one group that really liked it: the American right.
The conservative pundit Ben Shapiro called the Facebook chief’s address “quite good” and his interpretation of free speech “actually correct.” The conspiracy-peddling men’s rights activist and alt-right blogger Mike Cernovich praised it as “a direct rejection of the media’s demand for control over the minds of billions.” House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, one of the right’s most outspoken Facebook critics, found the speech “a heartwarming reminder that free expression is the best business model in the world.”
If you took Zuckerberg’s speech at face value, as an earnest defense of free expression in a democratic society, the partisan response would be hard to explain. Yes, many conservatives value the First Amendment, but so do many of the liberals and centrists who found the talk frustrating.
The social network has never…
