Facebook chief executive officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg has received a letter from over 140 scientists, who receive funding and support from his foundation, calling on him to change his stance over recent posts by US President Donald Trump on the platform.
The group of scientists called on Zuckerberg to rethink his view on President Trump's recent posts about the Black Lives Matter protests in the US.
They are urging the Facebook CEO to "consider stricter policies on misinformation and incendiary language that harms people or groups of people, especially in our current climate that is grappling with racial injustice."
The letter
Three of the signatories to the letter expressed their extreme gratitude for the support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) but pointed out that the CZI has goals that include the use of technology to create a better world, which contradicted with Zuckerberg's decisions at the company.
The letter referred to Trump's post during the ongoing protests against racial injustice. It read: "Like many, we were disconcerted to see that Facebook has not followed their own policies in regards to President Trump, who has used the Facebook platform to spread both misinformation and incendiary statements. For example, his statement 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts' is a clear statement of inciting violence."
"As scientists, we are dedicated to investigating ways to better our world. We are proud to be CZI awardees and to help realize CZI's mission, which is to 'use technology to help solve some of our toughest challenges — from preventing and eradicating disease, to improving learning experiences for kids, to reforming the criminal justice system' and 'to build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone," it continued.
However, the scientists warned: "The spread of deliberate misinformation and divisive language is directly antithetical to this goal and we are therefore deeply concerned at the stance Facebook has taken."
According to Jason Shepherd, one of the signatories and an associate professor at University of Utah, he believed that scientists like him have not stood up enough against misinformation and that it was time for them to speak out.
Martin Kampmann, an associate professor at University of California, San Francisco, argued that it was not all about Trump. He said: "This is bigger than Trump; we are feeling very strongly about the responsibility social media platforms have because they are the primary way people get their information."
However, CZI spokesperson Jeff MacGregor pointed out that the foundation was a separate entity from Facebook.
MacGregor said: "We have a separate staff, separate offices, and a separate mission: to build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone through our work in science, education, and on issues related to justice and opportunity. We are grateful for our staff, partners and grantees in this work and we respect their right to voice their opinions, including on Facebook policies."
Employees' virtual walkout
Last week, several Facebook employees staged a virtual walkout as a sign of protest against Zuckerberg’s inaction toward the controversial posts. The virtual walkout follows a series of public posts on Twitter by Facebook employees.
Jason Stirman, a design manager at the company, expressed his disagreement with Zuckerberg’s decision not to do anything about Trump’s recent posts.
Stirman tweeted: “I don’t know what to do, but I know doing nothing is not acceptable. I’m a FB employee that completely disagrees with Mark’s decision to do nothing about Trump’s recent posts, which clearly incite violence. I’m not alone inside of FB. There isn’t a neutral position on racism.”
Facebook director of product management Jason Toff wrote on Twitter: “I work at Facebook and I am not proud of how we’re showing up. The majority of coworkers I’ve spoken to feel the same way. We are making our voice heard.”
