Facebook Employees Stage Virtual Walkout, Ask Trump's Posts Be Policed

Facebook Inc. FB employees left their work desks at home, staging a virtual walkout while taking to Twitter Inc.’s TWTR platform demanding CEO Mark Zuckerberg moderate Trump’s posts.

What Happened

Zuckerberg composed a Facebook post on Friday addressing the killing of George Floyd and touched upon Facebook’s reaction to the president’s incendiary tweets about Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests.

He said, “I disagree strongly with how the President spoke about this, but I believe people should be able to see this for themselves, because ultimately accountability for those in positions of power can only happen when their speech is scrutinized out in the open.”

Among the walkout participants were seven engineers who maintain the social network’s React code library, which supports Facebook’s applications, reported Reuters.

Dan Abramov, one of the engineers, tweeted.

The React Core team is joining the Facebook employee walkout in solidarity with the black community.
Facebookʼs recent decision to not act on posts that incite violence ignores other options to keep our community safe. We implore the Facebook leadership to #TakeAction. pic.twitter.com/0i33nNQTLN

— Dan Abramov (@dan_abramov) June 1, 2020

Why It Matters

Zuckerberg’s weekly question-and-answer session held each Friday would be moved to Tuesday, reported Reuters.

Employees taking time off to participate in the walkout would be allowed to do so without drawing on their vacation days.

Online therapy firm Talkspace has ended partnership discussions with Facebook over Zuckerberg’s stance. Oren Frank, CEO of Talkspace, tweeted, “We will not support a platform that incites violence, racism, and lies. #BlackLivesMatter.”

On Monday, Trump said he had had a “productive” call with Zuckerberg, after signing an executive order targeting social media’s legal immunity.

Twitter has fact-checked Trump's multiple tweets, who enraged has vowed that he would not allow free speech to be stifled.

Facebook Price Action

Facebook shares traded 0.36% lower at $231.07 in the after-hours session on Monday. The shares had closed the regular session 3.03% higher at $231.91.