Hundreds of Facebook Inc. employees have agreed to stage a virtual walkout following the company’s decision to leave President Trump’s contentious post on the platform, according to a report published by the New York Times today.

Last week, Trump came under fire for a comment he posted on both Twitter and Facebook relating to the outbreak of protests in the U.S. following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In that post, Trump said “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” a racially charged statement that was used in the 1960s by a white police officer to incite violence.

Twitter soon labeled Trump’s post as violating the platform’s rules and for “glorifying violence,” although the company allowed the post to stay up because it was “in the public interest” to do so. Facebook’s Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg took a different stance.

In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg said he had been “struggling with how to respond to the President’s tweets and posts,” adding, “Although the post had a troubling historical reference, we decided to leave it up because the National Guard references meant we read it as a warning about state action, and we think people need to know if the government is planning to deploy force.”

Facebook’s inaction in taking down Trump’s post inciting violence makes me ashamed to work here. I absolutely disagree with it. I enjoy the technical parts of my job and working alongside smart/kind people, but this isn’t right. Silence is complicity.

— Lauren Tan ✨😷✨ (@sugarpirate_) May 29, 2020

Many employees at the company have disagreed, which led to this virtual workout – virtual because most employees at the moment are working from home. Some of Zuckerberg’s detractors are high-ranking staff.

“Censoring information that might help people see the complete picture *is* wrong,” tweeted Andrew Crow, Facebook’s head of design for Portal. “But giving a platform to incite violence and spread disinformation is unacceptable, regardless who you are or if it’s newsworthy. I disagree with Mark’s position and will work to make change happen.” Other executives at the company took a similar stance.

I work at Facebook and I am not proud of how we’re showing up. The majority of coworkers I’ve spoken to feel the same way. We are making our voice heard.

— Jason Toff (@jasontoff) June 1, 2020

Perhaps in response to the internal backlash, today Facebook announced that it will donate $10 million to “ending racial injustice.” The company said, “We stand against racism. We stand with our Black community – and all those working toward justice in honor of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and far too many others whose names will not be forgotten.”

Photo: rulenumberone2/Flickr