Doubling Down
Zuckerberg defends 'tough decision' to leave Trump's Facebook posts up after walkout, resignations
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is continuing to double down on his decision to leave up posts from President Trump after employees staged a walkout in protest.
Zuckerberg has been coming under fire in recent days for his inaction on several Trump posts after Twitter fact-checked one of the same posts and slapped another with a warning saying it violated its rules against glorifying violence. Facebook employees staged a virtual walkout on Monday over Zuckerberg's policy towards Trump's posts, and some have resigned. Facebook "is on the wrong side of history," one staffer wrote in a resignation post.
In an internal meeting on Tuesday, Zuckerberg defended his "tough decision" to not take action against the Trump posts, arguing that it's the "right action where we are right now is to leave this up" and saying he had to "separate out my personal opinion," The New York Times reports.
Zuckerberg reportedly faced some tough questions from staffers during the call, with one asking, per the Times' Mike Isaac, "Why are the smartest people in the world focused on contorting and twisting our policies to avoid antagonizing Trump?" Isaac wrote that based on everything he's been hearing from the meeting, "this is not going over super well."
In fact, CNN cited one employee who "found Zuckerberg's answers to staff questions at the town hall lacking, and said the CEO risked alienating more of his staff rather than addressing their concerns," while BuzzFeed's Ryan Mac quoted an employee as saying, "This is a disaster."
This comes after Zuckerberg was blasted by civil rights leaders, who spoke with him and subsequently said they're "disappointed and stunned by Mark's incomprehensible explanations for allowing the Trump posts to remain up."