honesty will ‘piss off’ people

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday said the social media company is going to stand for principles it believes in whether or not people like it.

“This is the new approach, and I think it’s going to piss off a lot of people,” said Zuckerberg, speaking at Silicon Slopes Tech Summit 2020 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“But frankly the old approach was pissing off a lot of people too, so let’s try something different.”

Specifically, Zuckerberg said Facebook is going to support free speech and enable strong encryption on its services.

Facebook came under fire in the closing months of 2019 for its decision to allow politicians to publish false information in paid ads on the social network. Although people have protested the decision and other social networks have decided to ban political ads altogether, Facebook has stood firm in its decision.

“We’re going to stand up for free expression,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s unfortunate that this is such a controversial thing.”

Zuckerberg’s speech on Friday built on his comments to analysts following Facebook’s quarterly earnings report on Wednesday, where he said “My goal for this next decade isn’t to be liked, but to be understood.”

“Because in order to be trusted, people need to know what you stand for,” he said.

Asked if he were to start a new company today whether he would do it in the San Francisco Bay Area, Zuckerberg said he would not. Zuckerberg said that things like Amazon Web Services have made it possible to build tech companies elsewhere. Meanwhile, the limitations of Silicon Valley, such as lack of housing and a mono-culture that is singularly focused on tech, make other regions more alluring, he said. 

“I do think, on balance, that if I was starting from scratch now I would not pick the Bay Area,” he said.