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Facebook to review network policies over Trump’s controversial posts

Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive of Facebook

* Zuckerberg’s decision to not act on Trump’s made employees ‘angry, disappointed and hurt’

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Sequel to the rising wave of social unrests and violent protests which the United States (US) President Donald Trump’s posts on Social Media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, allegedly have generated, Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive of Facebook, has promised to review the network’s policies that led to its decision to not moderate such provocative messages earlier.

Agency report says the announcement, which came in the form of a letter to employees Friday, June 5, appeared aimed at quelling anger inside the company that was so severe it prompted some to quit the global tech giant.

The outrage in the firm was reportedly sparked when Zuckerberg said Facebook would not remove or flag Trump’s recent posts that appeared to encourage violence against those protesting Police racism in the US.

According to report, Zuckerberg’s message Friday seemed to attempt to mollify that anger when he said: “We’re going to review our policies allowing discussion and threats of state use of force to see if there are any amendments we should adopt.”

He said this includes “excessive use of Police or state force. Given the sensitive history in the US, this deserves special consideration.”

Recently, Social Media platforms have faced mounting calls to moderate President Trump’s comments, most recently because of the unrest rummaging through the United States in the wake of the death of unarmed African-American George Floyd killed while apprehended by Police.

“The decision I made last week has left many of you angry, disappointed and hurt,” Zuckerberg said in the letter, which he posted on his Facebook page, report stated.

Timothy Aveni, a software engineer who resigned from the company, wrote on his Facebook page that the Social Media platform “will keep moving the goalposts every time Trump escalates, finding excuse after excuse not to act on increasingly dangerous rhetoric.”

Zuckerberg said he was exploring possible changes on how policy decisions are made at Facebook, along with more ways to advance racial justice and voter engagement.

He stated that “while we are looking at all of these areas, we may not come up with changes we want to make in all of them.

As per voting, Zuckerberg said: “I have confidence in the election integrity efforts we’ve implemented since 2016.”

“But there’s a good chance that there will be unprecedented fear and confusion around going to the polls in November, and some will likely try to capitalise on that confusion.”

The letter also was reported to have addressed employees’ complaints that minorities have not been sufficiently represented internally.

The Facebook Chief Executive said: “We’re going to review whether we need to change anything structurally to make sure the right groups and voices are at the table.”

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