Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended his social network’s policy of permitting a wide range of free speech on the platform. During a lecture at Georgetown University in Washington, Zuckerberg invoked the First Amendment and the civil rights movement to justify his refusal to stem inflammatory sentiments on Facebook.

“Some people argue internet platforms should allow all expression protected by the First Amendment, even though the First Amendment explicitly doesn’t apply to companies,” Zuckerberg said. “I’m proud that our values at Facebook are inspired by the American tradition, which is more supportive of free expression than anywhere else.”
But Sacha Baron Cohen, the star of Ali G and Netflix’s ‘The Spy’ called out Zuckerberg’s “disingenuous” attempt to be the protector of free speech. He used the example of how a restauranteur would react if Nazis entered his eatery shouting antisemitic epithets in a tweet last week.
If he owned a fancy restaurant and 4 neo-Nazis came goose-stepping into the dining room and were talking loudly about wanting to kill “Jewish scum”, would he serve them an elegant eight course meal? Or would tell them to get the f**k out of his restaurant? It’s the same thing.
— Sacha Baron Cohen (@SachaBaronCohen) October 17, 2019
The tweet read: “Just heard #MarkZuckerberg’s disingenuous speech. He is not the government, but the owner of a private business and not subject to the 1st Amendment!”
Cohen elaborated saying: “If he owned a fancy restaurant and 4 neo-Nazis came goose-stepping into the dining room and were talking loudly about wanting to kill “Jewish scum”, would he serve them an elegant eight course meal? Or would tell them to get the f**k out of his restaurant? It’s the same thing.”
Facebook has come under pressure by many pro-Israel groups for censoring pro-Israel content while allowing violent antisemitic and anti-Israel content.