80% of Facebook Employees Agree With The Company’s Decision Regarding Trump’s Account

80% of Facebook Employees Agree With The Company’s Decision Regarding Trump’s Account

Yesterday, what had typically been a routine process in presidential transitions descended into one of the darkest days for American democracy. Congress’s procedure to certify the election results in favor of Joe Biden was halted when a mob of President Trump’s supporters infiltrated the U.S. Capitol building. Many lawmakers were ordered to shelter in place and some had to wear gas masks to protect themselves from tear gas as they evacuated the building. 

Yesterday evening, the country’s top business leaders expressed their disgust with the riots at the Capitol, some called out President Trump by name. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said, “Our elected leaders have a responsibility to call for an end to the violence, accept the results, and, as our democracy has for hundreds of years, support the peaceful transition of power.”

Yesterday, Twitter took the unprecedented step of removing three of Trump’s tweets, then locked his account for 12 hours. Twitter cited “repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy” for the suspension. Facebook, which has come under fire for the way its handed misinformation, also removed Trump’s video and banned Trump’s account from posting for 24 hours (so did Instagram).

On Blind, the largest anonymous professional network, a Microsoft employee asked if Twitter and Facebook did the right thing, or if they were attacking freedom of speech.

Here are the key learnings from over 8,000 survey respondents

  • Overall, 76% of survey respondents say the social media companies did the right thing by removing his posts
    • 80% of surveyed Facebook employees say the social media companies did the right thing
    • 75% of surveyed Twitter employees say the social media companies did the right thing

See the raw data here.

Facebook and Twitter both took their strongest actions yet to block President Trump after his messages egged on misinformation-fueled mobs storming the Capito

A Microsoft user commented, “An average Joe user gets banned from FB and Twitter for the slightest political incorrectness. Trump got a free pass for so long because he is the President. Today though, he went full clockwork orange. He needs to step down – banning from Twitter and Facebook isn’t even a slap on the wrist.” 

A Bank Of America Professional posted, “You or I can be banned from Twitter if we break their rules, or banned from a store if we break their rules, or denied service if we break their rules. This is no different. Get over it.” 

An Expedia professional posted, “He incited violence and did nothing to stop it, in fact he fueled the flames. Despite all of the criticism FB and Twitter get, I applaud them for their actions, they did the right thing.” 

Facebook furthered their actions by completely Blocking Trump’s account for the rest of his presidency, Zuckerberg said”We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”