After Mark Zuckerberg’s Refusal To Remove Donald Trump’s Spiteful Posts, Several Facebook Employees Threatened To Quit

Following Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to let Donald Trump’s spiteful posts remain on the social network, several employees have allegedly threatened to resign. The new report by the Wall Street Journal claims that several workers were offended by the presidential nominee’s “certain posts about banning Muslims from entering the U.S.”

The employees reportedly brought up that Trump’s posts were clear violations of Facebook’s policy on hate speech. The social network states that it encourages respectful behavior to “help balance the needs, safety, and interests of a diverse community.”

Zuckerberg was left in a crucial position. He chose to keep the posts because of censorship concerns. The employees who threatened to quit were reportedly from the team tasked to filter or review content. WSJ reports that the issue first surfaced in December after Facebook users complained about Trump’s “hate posts.” There were a handful of employees who agreed, but they were allegedly asked to leave the posts as they were.

Monika Bickert, the company’s head of global policy management, said that they made the decision because they wanted to be fair during the election season. It can be remembered that Zuckerberg was once asked by a Muslim town hall meeting attendee about his views on Trump’s Facebook comments. The tech mogul said that even if Trump’s remarks were indeed examples of hate speech, removing them also had great implications.

Although some understand Zuckerberg’s stand, the publication details that some employees found it unreasonable. There were those who have opened up to their superiors about their concerns. Some opted to make internal Facebook groups to air their objections, and some threatened to hand in their resignation letters.

Facebook did not comment about the publication’s scoop, but a spokesperson talked about the step they’re taking during the heated campaign period.

“When we review reports of content that may violate our policies, we take context into consideration. That context can include the value of political discourse. Many people are voicing opinions about this particular content and it has become an important part of the conversation around who the next U.S. president will be. For those reasons, we are carefully reviewing each report and surrounding context relating to this content on a case by case basis.”

It is likewise interesting to note that Facebook, through its online newsroom, recently announced a change on how it would filter content.

“In the weeks ahead, we’re going to begin allowing more items that people find newsworthy, significant, or important to the public interest — even if they might otherwise violate our standards. We will work with our community and partners to explore exactly how to do this, both through new tools and approaches to enforcement.”

Facebook also vows to work closely with “experts, publishers, journalists, photographers, law enforcement officials and safety advocates about how to do better when it comes to the kinds of items” that they will allow to stay on the site.

Earlier this week, Zuckerberg also made headlines for coming to Peter Thiel’s defense. The Silicon Valley billionaire, who also happens to be a board member of Facebook, reportedly plans to extend a $1.25 million donation for Trump’s campaign.

According to Gizmodo, an internal memo was leaked where Zuckerberg talked about the value of intellectual diversity. “We can’t create a culture that says it cares about diversity and then excludes almost half the country because they back a political candidate,” one of the memo’s lines read.

Zuckerberg adds that there are other reasons why someone might support Trump – reasons that do not necessarily involve “racism, sexism, xenophobia or accepting sexual assault.” The internet entrepreneur reminded the memo recipients that Facebook is all about giving people the right to share their experiences so that others may understand them.

[Featured Image by David Ramos/Getty Images]