The Facebook founder and world’s fifth-richest person, worth $62.3 billion, famously dropped out of Harvard after launching the global social-networking website.
Mark Zuckerberg, 33, called for students to “not only create new jobs, but create a new sense of purpose”.
Political experts think he may be positioning himself to run for office.
During his remarks on May 25, Mark Zuckerberg told graduates that “we live in an unstable time”.
“There’s pressure to turn inwards,” he said about those that feel left behind by increased globalization.
“This is the struggle of our time. The forces of freedom, openness and global community against the forces of authoritarianism, isolationism and nationalism.”
Mark Zuckerberg pointed to the dormitory where he launched Facebook, and remarked that meeting his wife, Priscilla, there was the best thing to happen to him at the university.
Before giving remarks, Mark Zuckerberg received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree during Harvard’s 366th graduation ceremony.
On May 24, he did a Facebook Live broadcast from his old dorm room.
“This is literally where I sat,” Mark Zuckerberg says, pointing to a small wooden desk and chair inside Kirkland House, which is due to be renovated over the summer.
“I had my little laptop here. And this is where I programmed Facebook,” he tells the camera.
During his commencement address, Mark Zuckerberg told students: “There is something wrong with our system when I can leave here and make billions of dollars in ten years when millions of students can’t afford to pay off their loans, let alone start a business.”
“When you don’t have the freedom to take your idea and turn it into a historic enterprise we all lose,” he continued.
Mark Zuckerberg told stories of meeting “children in juvenile detention and opioid addicts, who told me their lives could have turned out differently if they just had something to do”.
He appeared to get choked up at one point during a story about an high school student who feared he would not be able to enroll in university because he was an undocumented immigrant.
More than 1.9 billion people log onto Facebook every day.
Since its launch in 2004, Facebook has inspired many other social media competitors, including Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram.
In 2007, another Harvard drop-out, Bill Gates, returned for an honorary degree.
Bill Gates addressed students shortly after stepping down from the world’s largest software company, Microsoft, to launch to focus on his charity.
Millions of Americans are bracing for difficult weather conditions during the Christmas holiday, with storms…
The US House Ethics Committee has voted to release its report on former Republican Representative…
ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million to President-elect Donald Trump to settle a…
South Korea’s parliament has voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed attempt…
Israeli war planes have carried out more than 100 air strikes in Syria on December…
President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on the BRICS countries if they…