Zuckerberg vows FB policy review over Trump’s posts

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Friday promised to review the social network’s policies that led to its decision to not moderate controversial messages posted by US President Donald Trump.

The announcement, which came in the form of a letter to employees, appeared aimed at quelling anger inside the company that was so severe it prompted some to quit.

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

Zuckerberg’s message on Friday seemed to attempt to mollify that anger. “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,” Zuckerberg wrote.

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

Social media platforms have faced calls to moderate the US president’s comments, most recently because of the unrest gripping the US in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

“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.

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

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