The death of George Floyd has brought a massive impact on the population of the United States. Many celebrities have voiced their opinion on this tragedy. It has shown that racism is still present in the world and is killing people of color in silence. Even social media has spread out the voice of people against this terrible act. Employees of Facebook might be staging a stop-work action to protest against the death of George Floyd. The employees are taking this step to protest against the company and their lack of action to rebut the inflammatory remarks posted by the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
This movement was of course inspired after Twitter blocked off certain misinformation in Trump’s tweet, firstly about mail-voting, then about shooting, and also, an improper response against looters.
The movement is like a virtual walkout of Facebook employees. Since the pandemic, most Facebook employees are working from home and so, they are circulating threats to resign. Many former and current employees have stated that there is a bit of unrest in the company. This can pose a challenge to Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook.
I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the…
Posted by Donald J. Trump on Thursday, May 28, 2020
A specific post of Trump made on Facebook has actually riled up the people of Facebook. The same comment was posted on Twitter but Twitter marked the last statement as a glorification of violence and hence blocked it. Twitter had also stated that this was violence from a historical point of view, which shows their sensitivity towards racial issues. The racial historical context is that the line is similar to what a former Miami police chief used to say to suppress civil unrest taking place in Black communities.
At first, Twitter put a warning label against the tweet of Trump, and again, the second time, Twitter took similar action against another tweet of Trump. This is what incited the President to talk about reviewing social media platforms.
https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1266272862052085760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1266272862052085760&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.socialmediatoday.com%2Fnews%2Ffacebook-employees-stop-work-in-protest-against-the-companys-inaction-on-i%2F578990%2F
Facebook did not take such an active step. The comments remained up on Facebook and caused more divisions regarding the death of George Floyd.
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Mark Zuckerberg has mentioned that, while Trump’s statement did have historical references that could be troubling, it didn’t violate the rules of the platform. According to him, there was a close watch kept on the posts regarding the protest taking place in Minnesota. He mentioned that since the tweet referred to the National Guards, it seemed to be more of a warning regarding state action.
This has been an incredibly tough week after a string of tough weeks. The killing of George Floyd showed yet again that…
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, May 29, 2020
He also mentioned that Trump had tried to clarify the remarks in later posts. While the later post does provide more context, if someone sees the first post, it is not likely that they would see the second post.
Looting leads to shooting, and that’s why a man was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Wednesday night – or look at what just happened in Louisville with 7 people shot. I don’t want this to happen, and that’s what the expression put out last night means….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020
So, it seems like this explanation by Mark Zuckerberg was a bit passive. It’s clear why Facebook employees are protesting against this passive stance.
