AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
- Dozens of Facebook employees are holding a virtual walkout on Monday.
- The unprecedented activism is to protest the company's decision not to take down one of Trump's messages that Twitter said was "glorifying violence."
- Trump posted "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" in response to the Minneapolis protests that have since spread across the US.
- Do you work at Facebook? Contact this reporter at rprice@businessinsider.com or 650-636-6268. Anonymity offered.
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Facebook employees are staging a virtual "walkout" to protest the company's handling of Donald Trump's recent posts.
The New York Times reported that "dozens" of employees have taken Monday off to signal their opposition to the company's refusal to take action against a post from the US President that discussed "shooting" in response to the ongoing protests in the US.
The action came after numerous Facebook employees took to Twitter over the weekend to publicly criticize the company's leadership — an unprecedented show of organised employee anger at the company.
"As allies we must stand in the way of danger, not behind," wrote one of the dissenting Facebook employees on Twitter on Monday. "I will be participating in today's virtual walkout in solidarity with the black community inside and outside FB. #BlackLivesMatter."
A Facebook spokesperson did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
Last week, Trump posted on social media about the growing protests around the US against police brutality, including the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." Twitter labeled this phrase, which was used by a Southern police chief in the 1960s during civil rights protests, as "glorifying violence," and affixed a label to his tweet. But Facebook disagreed — with CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying while he had a "visceral negative reaction" to the post, it didn't break Facebook's rules.
It's this decision that has prompted an outpouring of anger among Facebook employees.
"Censoring information that might help people see the complete picture *is* wrong. But giving a platform to incite violence and spread disinformation is unacceptable, regardless who you are or if it's newsworthy," Andrew Crow, the head of design for Facebook's Portal device, wrote on Twitter on Sunday. "I disagree with Mark's position and will work to make change happen."
Here's how The New York Times described Monday's walkout: "The employees, who took the day off by logging into Facebook's systems and requesting time off to support protesters across the country, also added an automated message to their emails saying that they were out of the office in a show of protest." (Most Facebook employees are working from home due to the pandemic.)
Do you work at Facebook? Contact Business Insider reporter Rob Price via encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 650-636-6268), encrypted email (robaeprice@protonmail.com), standard email (rprice@businessinsider.com), Telegram/Wickr/WeChat (robaeprice), or Twitter DM (@robaeprice). We can keep sources anonymous. Use a non-work device to reach out. PR pitches by standard email only, please.
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See Also:
- Facebook publicly tears itself apart over Mark Zuckerberg's decision to keep up Trump's posts about the George Floyd protests
- Mark Zuckerberg says he had a 'visceral negative reaction' to Trump's post about shooting protesters but says the post will stay on Facebook
- Facebook tried to appease its conservative critics for years. It got hit by Trump's executive order on social media anyway.
