Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently shared a stunning story in an interview with Joe Rogan as he narrated an incident where he was facing a death sentence in Pakistan. The threat was based on content on Facebook, which was considered offensive under Pakistan laws. The Pakistani government had accused Zuckerberg of permitting such content on the site and even went to the extent of holding him personally liable.

The outcry was over one particular user who posted an image depicting a sketch of Prophet Mohammed that led to a legal case being brought against Zuckerberg. Although the Meta leader acknowledged he wasn't personally worried for his own well-being—after all, he had no plans to travel to Pakistan—the situation highlighted the increasingly strained relationship between international tech leaders and regional authorities regarding content controls.

Watch video: 

Zuckerberg recognized these problems, saying, 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."

The situation showed the difficult balance that social media companies must strike between upholding free speech and adhering to local laws, particularly in regions where offensive laws carry severe consequences, including life imprisonment or execution.

The CEO of Meta also pointed to the manner in which governments from other countries put pressure on U.S.-based technology firms, calling for more intervention by the American government to safeguard such companies. "The power of saying they're going to throw you in prison" is a level of pressure that necessitates protection for tech companies, he argued.

Also read: Zuckerberg claims Biden officials would 'scream' at Facebook to remove COVID posts