Facebook Employees Stage Virtual Walkout: Report

MENLO PARK, CA — Facebook employees have staged a virtual walkout protesting the social media platform’s inaction on President Trump’s incendiary posts in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing on its platform, according to a published report.

The Facebook employees said they were acting in support of demonstrators across the county and added out-of-office replies to their emails saying they were protesting, The New York Times reports.

Trump posted on multiple social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter amid ongoing protests over Floyd’s killing at the hands of police in Minneapolis that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

“These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen,” Trump wrote in social media posts.

“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!”

Employees have formed pockets of resistance within the Peninsula-based company in the most significant challenge to Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership the company’s CEO has faced since founding the company 15 years ago according to the report.

Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post that the president’s posts hadn’t violated the company’s terms of service.

“Personally, I have a visceral negative reaction to this kind of divisive and inflammatory rhetoric,” Zuckerberg said. “But I’m responsible for reacting not just in my personal capacity but as the leader of an institution committed to free expression.”

Zuckerberg’s laissez faire approach to Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric comes in stark contrast to Twitter, which under CEO Jack Dorsey's leadership has recently taken a more aggressive stance policing the president’s social media posts.

Twitter attached a notice to Trump’s tweet warning that it violated rules glorifying violence.

....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!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020

Twitter earlier last week posted a warning notice alerting users that the president was using its platform to propagate demonstrably false statements on mail-in voting, urging its users to “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.”

Facebook employees have taken to Twitter to express their dismay with Zuckerberg’s inaction, according to the report. They’ve advanced petitions and threatened resignation.

There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone.....

Facebook engineer Lauren Tan posted on Twitter that “Facebook’s inaction in taking down Trump’s post inciting violence makes me ashamed to work here.”

“Silence is complicity.”

The New York Times viewed statements made on an internal message board.

“The hateful rhetoric advocating violence against black demonstrators by the US President does not warrant defense under the guise of freedom of expression,” a Facebook employee said, according to the report.

“Along with Black employees in the company, and all persons with a moral conscience, I am calling for Mark to immediately take down the President’s post advocating violence, murder and imminent threat against Black people.”

Two senior Facebook employees told The New York Times that they’d given managers notice that they’d step down should Zuckerberg decline to reverse his decision, the report said, noting an additional person was declining to accept a job at Facebook based on Zuckerberg’s position on the president’s use of the platform.

Employees will have a chance to question Zuckerberg in a weekly meeting that was moved from Thursday to Tuesday to address the crisis, the report said.

Zuckerberg has drawn criticism for inaction in monitoring posts of authoritarian leaders who have used his platform to spread misinformation.

Roger McNamee, an early investor in the company, has emerged as one of Zuckerberg’s fiercest critics.

“Internet platforms that are pervasive — as Facebook and Google are globally — must always align with power, including authoritarians. It is a matter of self-preservation,” McNamee said.

“Facebook has been a key tool for authoritarians in Brazil, the Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar. In the U.S., Facebook has consistently ignored or altered its terms of service to the benefit of Trump. Until last week, Twitter did the same thing.”

Read more in The New York Times.