Despite snowballing criticism from the public and from its own employees and partners, social media giant Facebook will not moderate US president Donald Trump’s social media posts.
Public outcry have been pouring, calling Trump’s posts inciting anger and hatred. One of Trump’s social media post said “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
The Facebook posts are about continuing unrest all throughout the US, particularly in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd, an African-American. Lootings have also escalated and many believe criminal groups are using the Floyd issue to do harm.
In a CNBC report, Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said “that he was standing firm in the company’s decision not to moderate” the post from Trump. Zuckerberg disclosed the decision in a virtual meeting with employees.
Public criticisms continue to mount against Facebook, and at least three Facebook employees have resigned and joined the outcry against the social media behemoth.
Brandon Dail, a Facebook software engineer, tweeted “I cannot stand by Facebook’s continued refusal to act on the president’s bigoted messages aimed at radicalizing the American public” before resigning.
Facebook partners, including Color of Change and Talkspace, earlier expressed dismay over Zuckerberg’s decision.
The CNBC report quoted Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, saying that “he was disappointed and stunned by his incomprehensible explanations for allowing Trump’s incitement of violence against black people to remain up.”
Color of Change works with Facebook as a racial justice organization. Talkspace, meanwhile also said it was ending its partnership with Facebook over Trump’s insensitive posts. The company is engaged with online therapy. It made the announcement to call off its partnership with Facebook on Monday, June 1.
