Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday refused to budge on what he called his “tough decision” to preserve controversial Facebook posts by President Trump — despite a staff uproar that has led to at least two resignations.
In a highly charged internal call with employees, the head of Facebook told employees that he stood by his decision to let Trump’s posts speak for themselves. Employees and civil rights activists have called on Zuckerberg to remove a Trump post last week about police protests, arguing that it was a call to violence and therefore in violation of the company policies
The post called demonstrators “thugs” and warned that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Trump wrote that on Friday on Facebook and Twitter in response to clashes between protesters and cops in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police.
Twitter shielded the message behind a warning label, saying it violated the company’s rules against “glorifying violence.” It wasn’t taken down as a “public service exception,” because Trump is a public official.
In the call, which was not publicized, Zuckerberg said that he was “pretty thorough” when reviewing Facebook’s policies regarding the president’s posts. The 36-year-old CEO said that the company’s policies on free speech “show that the right action where we are right now is to leave this up,” according to The New York Times.
Zuckerberg, who has called Trump’s remarks “deeply offensive,” said he put aside his personal opinions when making the call, and that he knew he would take heat for the decision.
Employees were not satisfied, though. “It’s crystal clear today that leadership refuses to stand with us,” said Brandon Dail, a Facebook engineer, in a Twitter post.
Also on Tuesday, Facebook software engineer Timothy Aveni said he resigned thanks to “Facebook’s continued refusal to act on the president’s bigoted messages aimed at radicalizing the American public.”
“I’m scared for my country, and I’m watching my company do nothing to challenge the increasingly dangerous status quo,” Aveni wrote in a LinkedIn post.
Aveni lashed out at Facebook for “moving the goalposts every time Trump escalates, finding excuse after excuse to not act on increasingly dangerous rhetoric.”
At least one other staffer resigned, according to The Wall Street Journal. Facebook declined to comment.
Tuesday’s call with staffers followed a “virtual walkout” on Monday that saw hundreds of Facebook employees taking paid time off in protest of Zuckerberg’s decision.
And on Monday, three civil rights groups blasted Zuckerberg following a call with him and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.
“Mark is setting a very dangerous precedent,” they said.
Despite the uproar, Facebook shares barely budged on Tuesday, rising 81 cents, to close at $232.72.