Tech workers are urging Facebook employees to quit their jobs in protest of the company's controversial decision to keep up Trump's post about the George Floyd protest (FB)
- Some fellow tech workers are encouraging Facebook employees that are unhappy with the company's handling of President Trump's controversial post to step down from the company.
- The comments come as Facebook employees have been voicing their concerns with Facebook's policies by speaking out and holding a virtual walkout.
- One Facebook engineer has already resigned over the company's recent decision.
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Facebook employees held a virtual walkout on Monday in protest of the company's decision not to take action against President Trump's post about the protests being held over the death of George Floyd. The post in question included the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." Twitter placed a warning for the same post on its platform for glorifying violence.
The walkout came after several current Facebook employees took to Twitter to voice their disapproval of Facebook's lack of action.
Now, some fellow tech workers are encouraging employees to step down from their positions at Facebook in protest.
"I quit Google when they started developing weapons of war with the DoD," Alex Hidalgo, a site reliability engineer at Squarespace, tweeted on May 30 in response to a Facebook employee that said he disagrees about the company's recent decisions. "It's totally 100% an option. I did it. So can you."
I quit Google when they started developing weapons of war with the DoD. It's totally 100% an option. I did it. So can you.— Alex Hidalgo (Final writing break. Be back later!) (@ahidalgosre) May 31, 2020
"I cannot stand by Facebook's continued refusal to act on the president's bigoted messages aimed at radicalizing the American public," Aveni wrote.
Jack Poulson, a former senior research scientist at Google who resigned in 2018 over its controversial Chinese search engine project, also shared a similar sentiment on Twitter.
"A small group of workers can collectively have a huge impact," Poulson tweeted.
It only took 9 Google workers -- the "Group of Nine" -- to block federal cloud cert. and kickstart the rejection of Google's aid to drone warfare. This was the seed for the DoD adopting its own AI Principles.— Jack Poulson (@_jack_poulson) June 1, 2020
A small group of workers can collectively have a huge impact. https://t.co/5bpDMNdOpD
Friends and followers who work at Facebook, especially tech folks - this is NOT OK. Walk out. Quit now. This is your moment. Use your powers for good.— Tim Hockin (@thockin) May 31, 2020
Everyone has their own situation & circumstances, be it student loans, a work visa, or a family... I'd never suggest anyone quit their job without knowing them.— Randy Luecke🤦🏼♂️ (@me1000) June 1, 2020
But there are _A LOT_ of highly employable at Facebook right now who could walk away.
I don't think Zuck will change
Facebook has stood by its decision to take no action against Trump's post, upholding its long-standing outlook that it does not want to be the "arbiter of truth."
"I know many people are upset that we've left the President's posts up, but our position is that we should enable as much expression as possible unless it will cause imminent risk of specific harms or dangers spelled out in clear policies," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on May 29.
Facebook has cracked down on content moderation in recent years, particularly when it comes to false news and misinformation. It implemented new rules in January, for example, that call for the removal of manipulated videos that have been doctored to mislead viewers.
But the company's decision not to interfere with political speech and fact-check political ads has drawn much scrutiny.
"I believe strongly that we shouldn't be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online," Zuckerberg recently said in an interview with Fox News' Dana Perino. "I think, in general, private companies shouldn't be, especially these platform companies, shouldn't be in the position of doing that."
Are you a Facebook employee with insight to share? If so, we want to hear from you. Contact this reporter at leadicicco@businessinsider.com or through encrypted mail at lisaeadicicco@protonmail.com, or send a direct message on Twitter to @LisaEadicicco.
SEE ALSO: Satirical websites are testing Facebook's policy on not being the 'arbiter of truth' by running false headlines claiming Mark Zuckerberg is dead or abusive
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* This article was originally published here
https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-employees-urged-to-quit-protest-of-trump-post-2020-6
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