Employee who protested Facebook’s stance on Trump posts fired over tweet
Facebook was criticized for failing to take action against Trump posts that employees said could cause violence.
Angela Lang / CNET
Facebook fired an employee who protested the social network’s hands-off approach to President Donald Trump’s controversial posts after publicly tweeting another employee’s “inaction”.
Brandon Dail, who worked as an engineer at Facebook in Seattle, said in a tweet on Friday that he had lost his job after asking another employee to add a Black Lives Matter banner to a website through a tool created by Facebook. Dail said the employee refused because he didn’t want to become political.
In the interest of transparency, I was fired for calling an employee to be inactive on Twitter. I stand by what I said. They did not give me the opportunity to quit ? https://t.co/zMw8ARMwZt
– Brandon Dail (@aweary), June 12, 2020
In the public tweet published on June 2, Dail mentions the employee by name and said that “deliberately not making a statement is already political”.
Facebook confirmed that Dail’s characterization of his shot was correct, but provided no further details. Dail did not respond to a request for comment.
The social network has been criticized by its own employees for not taking action against Trump’s contributions, which workers and critics say could cause violence. Earlier this month, hundreds of employees held a rare virtual strike to protest the company’s stance on political speech. Trump’s contributions included the phrase “When Looting Begins, The Gunfight Begins” in response to protests that broke out after the death of George Floyd, a black man in Minnesota, who died after a white policeman nailed his neck to his knee would have. Some employees quit, while others threatened to leave the company.
Facebook said that Trump’s posts do not violate his instigation of violence and that it allows for discussions about the state’s use of violence. The social network approach contrasted with Twitter, which added a note of public interest about Trump’s tweet.
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg said last week that the company is reviewing its policies, including rules that allow discussion of the use of state violence. Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan said in a letter to Twitter on Thursday that they “deeply shaken and disgusted“from Trumps” divisive and brand new rhetoric “.
