Facebook on Monday saw a virtual rebellion by some of its employees, as they took to social media in protest against the company’s decision to leave President Donald Trump’s frequently-false social media posts unflagged.
The move is in response to Trump’s tweet on Friday slamming the nationwide protests against the killing of George Floyd, where the President said “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”. The post, on Twitter, was screened as the company said it was in violation of their policies as it glorified violence. Facebook, however, did not add any disclaimer to Trump’s post.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg later posted about the decision. “I know many people are upset that we've left the President's posts up, but our position is that we should enable as much expression as possible unless it will cause imminent risk of specific harms or dangers spelled out in clear policies.”
“Although the post had a troubling historical reference, we decided to leave it up because the National Guard references meant we read it as a warning about state action, and we think people need to know if the government is planning to deploy force,” he wrote.
The phrase, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”, is associated with racism, after a Miami police chief used it in 1967 to justify ordering the police to respond to protesters with shotguns.
Since well over 95 per cent of Facebook’s employees have been working remotely, the protest took the form of a “virtual walkout” as the dissenting employees did not report to their work-from-home desks.
“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,” read a statement by Dan Abramov, a software engineer working on Facebook’s React Javascript library.
“Facebook 's decision to not act on posts that incite violence against black people fails to keep our community safe. I'm asking that we revisit this decision and provide more transparency into the process, inclusive of black leadership,” tweeted Facebook Messenger product designer Trevor Phillippi.
According to Reuters, hundreds of people took part in the walkout, with one source saying that thousands may have participated.
A Facebook spokesman said that the company would allow those who took part in the protest to take the time off without it affecting their vacation days.
