As protests over the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police continue, Facebook executives have openly criticized Mark Zuckerberg's stance on Donald Trump. As The New York Times reports, a number of high-profile Facebook employees staged a virtual walkout on Monday to protest the company's decision to take no action over Trump's more extreme comments made on social media.
Twitter flagged a tweet of Trump's over the weekends in regards to the protests, with the platform deducing that the post glorified violence. Zuckerberg notably said that the tweet, in which Trump wrote, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," did not violate Facebook's terms of service. "Our policy around incitement of violence allows discussion around state use of force," he wrote in a lengthy post.
Employees at Facebook don't seem pleased with Zuckerberg's stance, leaving automated emails telling people they were out of office to protest the company's lack of action. In leaked comments from Facebook employees acquired by The Verge, Zuckerberg was criticized for taking a neutral position on Trump's worrying comments.
"I have to say I am finding the contortions we have to go through incredibly hard to stomach," an employee wrote. "All this points to a very high risk of a violent escalation and civil unrest in November and if we fail the test case here, history will not judge us kindly." Another employee said that they felt "sad and frankly ashamed" after reading Zuckerberg's decision. "Hopefully there is still someone somewhere discussing how and why this is clearly advocating for violence," they added.
"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," a Facebook spokesperson told CNN. "As we face additional difficult decisions around content ahead, we'll continue seeking their honest feedback."
In other news, Zuckerberg has said that Facebook will donate $10 million to racial justice organizations.
"We’re working with our civil rights advisors and our employees to identify organizations locally and nationally that could most effectively use this right now," Zuckerberg said, per Deadline. "I know that $10 million can’t fix this. It needs sustained, long term effort."
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