A Facebook employee who criticized Mark Zuckerberg and his decision not to act against US President Donald Trump's posts on the social media platform has been fired, Reuters reported.
The employee, Brandon Dail, was working as a user interface engineer in Seattle. He stated he was fired for publicly challenging the CEO for keeping silent on the issue due to the president promoting violence in his social media posts in response to the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States. The killing of African-American George Floyd in the hands of the police ignited protests against racial injustice.
Dail was only one of the employees who reportedly left their desks as a response to Zuckerberg's inaction. Trump's posts included the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" to refer to the protests against police brutality held on May 25. Twitter, meanwhile, placed a distinct warning label on the post, stating it "glorified violence."
However, they are now 'Disgusted'
In another recent report on CNN, the CEO and his wife, Priscilla Chan, said they were "disgusted" by Trump's comments on the nationwide protests. They emailed a group of scientists from their non-profit organization, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). These scientists raised their sentiments on how Facebook managed these posts by the U.S. president.
In the email, Zuckerberg and Chan wrote, "We are deeply shaken and disgusted by President Trump's divisive and incendiary rhetoric at a time when our nation so desperately needs unity."
They added, "This is an extraordinarily painful inflection point in our nation's story, particularly for the Black community and our Black colleagues, who have lived with the impacts of systemic racism for generations."
The CEO is standing by his decision. The employee, Dail, objected after Facebook and Twitter's refusal to take action against the presidential post, which also contained the police in New York critically injured an unsubstantiated conspiracy allegation about a 75-year-old protester named Martin Gugino.
"Trump's attack on Martin Gugino is despicable and a clear violation of Facebook's anti-harassment rules. It's again extremely disappointing that we (and Twitter) haven't removed it," he stated.
No action
The social networking company confirmed this but refused to provide more information. However, the employees would not face retaliation.
The email sent to the scientists from Zuckerberg and Chan said that the letter had already been "shared and discussed" by the leadership and administrative team of CZI. The team reportedly took these "concerns seriously and to heart."
As of press time, there has been no further action from the Facebook CEO. Zuckerberg is strong in defending the stance of the company. He has, however, pledged to review the platform's policies and their method for moderating content.
"Zuckerberg's decision to leave the Trump posts up has alienated many of the company's own workers. Last week, some Facebook employees staged a virtual walkout over inaction on the matter," Michelle Toh and Donie O'Sullivan wrote on CNN Business.
