Facebook’s Civil Rights Audit • Address the tension of civil rights and free speech head on. Mark’s speech at Georgetown seems to represent a turning point for the company, after which it has placed greater emphasis on free expression. But Megan and I would argue that the value of non-discrimination is equally important, and that the two need not be mutually exclusive. As a longtime champion of civil rights and free expression I understand the crucial importance of both. For a 21st century American corporation, and for Facebook, a social media company that has so much influence over our daily lives, the lack of clarity about the relationship between those two values is devastating. It will require hard balancing, but that kind of balancing of rights and interests has been part of the American dialogue since its founding and there is no reason that Facebook cannot harmonize those values, if it really wants to do so. In publishing an update on our work in June 2019, I compared Facebook’s progress to climbing a section of Mount Everest: the company had made progress, but had certainly not reached the summit. As I close out the Civil Rights Audit with this report, many in the civil rights community acknowledge that progress has been made, but many feel it has been inadequate. In our view Facebook has made notable progress in some areas, but it has not yet devoted enough resources or moved with sufficient speed to tackle the multitude of civil rights challenges that are before it. This provokes legitimate questions about Facebook’s full-throated commitment to reaching the summit, i.e., fighting discrimination, online hate, promoting inclusion, promoting justice and upholding civil rights. The journey ahead is a long one that will require such a commitment and a reexamination of Facebook’s stated priorities and values. 12