Mark Zuckerberg: 'Facebook Opposes SOPA And PIPA'

FROM: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/18/mark-zuckerberg-sopa_n_1214090.html#

The Huffington Post   Catharine Smith and Ramona Emerson   

First Posted: 1/18/12 05:52 PM ET Updated: 1/18/12 05:52 PM ET

Zuck has spoken.

On Wednesday, popular websites like Wikipedia, Reddit, Google and Twitpic joined the ranks of an online protest over Congress' anti-piracy bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). For much of the day, these sites blacked out part of all of their content and posted notices urging visitors to stand against the bills, which would allow the U.S. government to shut down websites believed to be enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. According to opponents of SOPA and PIPA, the bills could hinder free speech on the web.

Social media giants Facebook and Twitter remained on the sidelines of the protest, though many had called for the sites to participate in a planned blackout. Instead, users took it upon themselves to "censor" content on their individual profiles. Elsewhere on the web, Reddit took down all of its pages and Wikipedia overlaid its articles with a notice asking users to "Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge."

Despite the social network's hands-off approach to the day of protests, company CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday reiterated his company's approval of the anti-SOPA movement. In a message posted on his Facebook wall, the CEO wrote the following:

The internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world. We can't let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the internet's development. Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the internet.

The world today needs political leaders who are pro-internet. We have been working with many of these folks for months on better alternatives to these current proposals. I encourage you to learn more about these issues and tell your congressmen that you want them to be pro-internet.

Zuckerberg also took the protest day as an opportunity to tweet for the first time in nearly three years. Check out his tweet, below.