In a rare move, hundreds of Facebook’s staff walked away from their remote working desks on Monday and took to Twitter to accuse social media giant’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, of inadequately policing U.S. President Trump’s post on Facebook’s platform.
Facebook staff expressed disappointment and disgust over the decision of Facebook’s management to allow a statement posted by President Trump, in which he wrote “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
A tweet by Dan Abramov, a software engineer at Facebook, said “The React Core team is joining the Facebook employee walkout in solidarity with the Black community. Facebook’s recent decision to not act on posts that incite violence ignores other options to keep our community safe. We implore the Facebook leadership to #TakeAction.”
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The React Core team is joining the Facebook employee walkout in solidarity with the Black community.
Facebookʼs recent decision to not act on posts that incite violence ignores other options to keep our community safe. We implore the Facebook leadership to #TakeAction. pic.twitter.com/0i33nNQTLN
— Dan Abramov (@dan_abramov) June 1, 2020
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“Mark is wrong, and I will endeavor in the loudest possible way to change his mind,” wrote Ryan Freitas, identified on Twitter as director of product design for Facebook’s News Feed. He added that he had mobilized “50+ like-minded folks” to lobby for internal change.”
Mark is wrong, and I will endeavor in the loudest possible way to change his mind.
— Ryan Freitas (@ryanchris) June 1, 2020
In addition, two top Facebook employees have informed the management of Facebook their intention to resign if Mark Zuckerberg does not reverse his decision, on moderating Trump’s posts, the New York Times reported Monday.
Meanwhile, Facebook has reacted to this development. A spokesman for the company told CNBC on Monday that Facebook understood the concerns and was open to its employees expressing their bias freely.
“We recognize the pain many of our people are feeling right now, especially our Black community,” “We encourage employees to speak openly when they disagree with leadership. As we face additional difficult decisions around content ahead, we’ll continue seeking their honest feedback.”
Those staff are insane. You cant be double sided, now they love the fact that they have freedom of expression for their opinion on Mark’s stand, but they hate the fact that the president has the same privilege to talk to things who hijacked a peaceful protest. What right do you have to reap where you didn’t sow, what right do you have to look another citizens property? Thief’s are meant to be caught and shooting you to stop you from violating another man’s sweat is not a bad punishment. Live and let live, let the criminals not loot people’s stuff so their lives wint be looted with the guards bullets as well.