Several Facebook employees staged a virtual walkout on Monday as a sign of protest against chief executive officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg’s inaction against President Donald Trump’s controversial posts.
Some employees took the day off work as part of a virtual walkout at Facebook protesting the inaction of Zuckerberg on Trump’s series of controversial posts on the platform last week.
However, managers were advised by the tech firm’s human resources department not to retaliate against workers who were planning to protest or force them to use their paid leave.
Public dissent from employees
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.”
Meanwhile, Andrew Crow, head of design for Facebook's Portal devices, wrote: "Giving a platform to incite violence and spread disinformation is unacceptable, regardless who you are or if it's newsworthy. I disagree with Mark's position and will work to make change happen."
Instagram employee Katie Zhu tweeted that she was taking Monday off and that she's "deeply disappointed" and "ashamed" with "how the company is showing up." She called on other employees to join her and “organize”.
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."
Facebook’s position
A Facebook spokesperson said: "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."
In a Facebook post on Friday, Zuckerberg said: "I've been struggling with how to respond to the President's tweets and posts all day. Personally, I have a visceral negative reaction to this kind of divisive and inflammatory rhetoric."
"But I'm responsible for reacting not just in my personal capacity but as the leader of an institution committed to free expression," he added.
The public outcry from employees was fueled after Facebook decided to do nothing against the president’s posts while Twitter opted to place a fact-check label on Trump’s tweets regarding mail-in ballots.
Twitter also hid one of his tweets for violating rules about glorifying violence. The post, which also appeared on Facebook, read: "....These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"
However, Zuckerberg has pledged to donate $10 million to protest groups fighting against racial inequality in the country. He said "We stand with the black community” but said the amount can’t solve the situation.
He also admitted that Facebook needs to do more to keep people safe and avoid promoting bias as the company faced criticism for how it is handling discussion of the protests on its platform.
