Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn't budge on his failure to act on President Donald Trump's posts that spread disinformation regarding elections as violence toward demonstrators continues. Critics of Zuckerberg, though, are multiplying.
Some workers left the issue, and civil-rights activists who met with him Monday night, June 1, criticized Zuckerberg 's reason for wanting to leave Trump's tweets alone as "questionable." Criticism has grown even more vigorously following Mr. Trump's social media posts about demonstrations in Minneapolis and around the country after the death of George Floyd.
Here's what happened
A day after a virtual walkout was staged by dozens of Facebook employees over the topic, the Facebook chief met with employees on Tuesday for a Q&A session via online video. At that session, which had been pushed forward from later in the week, Zuckerberg apparently doubled on his decision to leave Trump's posts alone. But he did indicate that the organization was contemplating improvements to its internal policies regarding "state use of force."
Facebook competitor Twitter highlighted and demoted a Trump tweet in which he used the expression "when the looting starts the shooting starts" about the protests over police brutality in Minneapolis. But Facebook let the same message stand on its service.
"I know many people are upset that we've left the President's posts up," Zuckerberg wrote.
"We should enable as much expression as possible unless it [causes an] imminent risk of specific harms or dangers spelled out in clear policies," he added.
The Facebook CEO has long resisted tamping free speech on the world's largest social network. Even as examples of misinformation and sometimes dangerous and hateful language spread widely on Facebook are piled up.
Disagreements and beyond
The resignations, which were tweeted and shared on LinkedIn and Facebook by several engineers, also began Tuesday.
Owen Anderson, former Facebook's engineering manager, announced on Twitter he is no longer a Facebook employee. "After last week, I am happy to no longer support policies and values I vehemently disagree with," he added.
Timothy J. Aveni, a software engineer who'd been at the company for a year, wrote on LinkedIn and his Facebook page that he submitted his resignation to the social media company.
Other workers posted their concerns on Twitter about Zuckerberg's stance.
"Speak openly"
Facebook said it encouraged its employees to "speak out." In a statement, the social media platform recognized the pain many people are feeling right now --- especially its Black community.
"We encourage employees to [openly speak up] when they disagree with leadership," Facebook said. It said it would continue seeking employees' honest feedback as it faces additional difficult decisions around content ahead.
Civil rights leaders
Also, on Monday evening, Zuckerberg and other Facebook members met with civil rights activists. The conversation did not go well, CBS News reported.
Three civil-rights leaders expressed their disappointment in a joint statement, saying they were stunned by Mark's incomprehensible explanations for allowing the Trump posts to remain up.
"He did not demonstrate [an] understanding of [historical] or modern-day voter suppression, and he refuses to acknowledge how Facebook is facilitating Trump's call for violence against protesters," they wrote.
