Dozens of Employees at Facebook Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture
Dozens at Facebook Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’
Liberal Culture
Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, told
Congress this year that he wanted the company to “be a platform for all ideas.”
By Kate Conger and Sheera Frenkel Aug. 28, 2018
SAN FRANCISCO — The post went up quietly on Facebook’s
internal message board last week. Titled “We Have a Problem With Political
Diversity,” it quickly took off inside the social network.
“We are a political monoculture that’s intolerant of
different views,” Brian Amerige, a senior Facebook engineer, wrote in the post,
which was obtained by The New York Times. “We claim to welcome all
perspectives, but are quick to attack — often in mobs — anyone who presents a
view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology.”
Since the post went up, more than 100 Facebook employees
have joined Mr. Amerige to form an online group called FB’ers for Political
Diversity, according to two people who viewed the group’s page and who were not
authorized to speak publicly. The aim of the initiative, according to Mr.
Amerige’s memo, is to create a space for ideological diversity within the
company.
The new group has upset other Facebook employees, who
said its online posts were offensive to minorities. One engineer, who declined
to be identified for fear of retaliation, said several people had lodged
complaints with their managers about FB’ers for Political Diversity and were
told that it had not broken any company rules.
Another employee said the group appeared to be
constructive and inclusive of different political viewpoints. Mr. Amerige did
not respond to requests for comment.
The activity is a rare sign of organized dissent within
Facebook over the company’s largely liberal workplace culture. While the new
group is just a sliver of Facebook’s work force of more than 25,000, the
company’s workers have in the past appeared less inclined than their peers at
other tech companies to challenge leadership, and most have been loyalists to
its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg.
But over the past two years, Facebook has undergone a
series of crises, including the spread of misinformation by Russians on its
platform and the mishandling of users’ data. Facebook has also been accused of
stifling conservative speech by President Trump and Senator Ted Cruz,
Republican of Texas, among others. This month, the social network barred the
far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, a move that critics seized on as
further evidence that the company harbors an anti-conservative bias.
Within Facebook, several employees said, people have
argued over the decisions to ban certain accounts while allowing others. At
staff meetings, they said, some workers have repeatedly asked for more guidance
on what content the company disallows, and why. Others have said Facebook, out
of fear of being seen as biased, has let too many right-wing groups flourish on
the site.
The dispute over employees’ political ideology arose a
week before Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, is scheduled
to testify at a Senate hearing about social media manipulation in elections. A
team helping Ms. Sandberg get ready for the hearing next Wednesday has warned
her that some Republican lawmakers may raise questions about Facebook and
biases, according to two people involved in the preparations.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump again brought up the issue of bias
by tech companies with tweets attacking Google. In remarks later in the day, he
widened his focus to include Twitter and Facebook.
Those companies “better be careful because you can’t do
that to people,” Mr. Trump said. “I think that Google, and Twitter and
Facebook, they are really treading on very, very troubled territory and they
have to be careful. It is not fair to large portions of the population.”
‘We Have a Problem With Political Diversity’
A senior Facebook engineer wrote an internal message
about what he described as the company’s “monoculture.”
Facebook has long been viewed as a predominantly liberal
company. Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg have donated to Democratic
politicians, for example, and have supported issues such as immigration reform.
The social network has sometimes struggled to integrate
conservatives into its leadership. Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, the
maker of virtual reality goggles that Facebook acquired, was pressured to leave
the company last year, months after news spread that he had secretly donated to
an organization dedicated to spreading anti-Hillary Clinton internet memes. And
Peter Thiel, an outspoken supporter of Mr. Trump, has faced calls for his
resignation from Facebook’s board.
Mr. Zuckerberg publicly defended Mr. Thiel last year,
saying that he valued Mr. Thiel and that it was important to maintain diversity
on the board. In an appearance before Congress this year, Mr. Zuckerberg
responded to a question about anticonservative bias by saying he wanted
Facebook to “be a platform for all ideas.”
In May, Facebook announced that former Senator Jon Kyl,
an Arizona Republican, would lead an inquiry into allegations of
anticonservative bias on the social network. New employees also go through
training that describes how to have respectful conversations about politics and
diversity.
Other Silicon Valley companies, including Google, have
also experienced a wave of employee activism over diversity. If tech companies
are willing to adjust their workplaces to make underrepresented groups more
welcome, some employees argue, they should extend the same regard to those who
do not fit the liberal-leaning Silicon Valley mold.
Mr. Amerige, who started working at Facebook in 2012,
said on his personal website that he followed philosophical principles laid out
by the philosopher and writer Ayn Rand. He posted the 527-word memo about
political diversity at Facebook on Aug. 20.
On issues like diversity and immigration, he wrote, “you
can either keep quiet or sacrifice your reputation and career.”
Mr. Amerige proposed that Facebook employees debate their
political ideas in the new group — one of tens of thousands of internal groups
that cover a range of topics — adding that this debate would better equip the
company to host a variety of viewpoints on its platform.
“We are entrusted by a great part of the world to be
impartial and transparent carriers of people’s stories, ideas and commentary,”
Mr. Amerige wrote. “Congress doesn’t think we can do this. The president
doesn’t think we can do this. And like them or not, we deserve that criticism.”
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