Why Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was almost sentenced to death in Pakistan

In an interview, Zuckerberg referred to an image posted by a user which had a drawing of Prophet Mohammed that led to a lawsuit against Zuckerberg.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an interview with American podcaster Joe Rogan said that he was "almost sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan". This comes against the background of the ongoing legal challenges Meta faces in Pakistan due to a lawsuit over alleged blasphemous content on Facebook.

The lawsuit accused Facebook for having blasphemous content on the platform which was against the country's laws.

Zuckerberg stated that Meta was committed to balancing free expression with respect for local regulations and cultural values in specific countries.

The incident that Zuckerberg was referring to was an image posted by a user which had a drawing of Prophet Mohammed that led to a lawsuit against Zuckerberg. The Pakistani government sought to hold him personally responsible for the alleged blasphemy.

Zuckerberg explained, “The point is, there are places around the world that just have different values that go against our free expression values and want us to crack down and ban way more stuff than I think a lot of people would believe would be the right thing to do."

Zuckerberg highlighted the growing challenges tech companies face due to stricter content regulations. "To have those governments be able to exert the power of saying they’re going to throw you in prison – that’s a lot of force. I think this is one of the things that the US government is probably going to need to help defend the American tech companies abroad," he said according to a report by Economic Times.

He did acknowledge that the lawsuit against him was a "little disconcerting", adding that “But it was a little bit disconcerting – I was like, alright, these guys are like – it’s not great (if you’re) flying over that region, you don’t want your plane to go down above Pakistan, if that thing goes through. That one was sort of avoidable.”

Pakistan has strict blasphemy laws which can result in severe penalties , including imprisonment or even death.