While activists lambasted Mark Zuckerberg for setting a ‘dangerous precedent’ by allowing US President Donald Trump’s post about the violent protests following the death of Minnesota resident George Floyd to remain on the social media site, the founder of Facebook said it should remain because people ‘should be able to see this for themselves’.
Last week, Trump’s post about sending in the National Guard to quell protests over Floyd’s death at the hands of police and saying that ‘when the looting starts, the shooting starts’ was hidden behind a warning label by Twitter after activists fingered it for ‘glorifying violence’.
Some Facebook staff have also voiced their disquiet, with an unknown number staging a ‘virtual walkout’.
But Zuckerberg defended his decision to leave the post on Facebook, saying he disagreed with Trump’s words but that people ‘should be able to see this for themselves’.
Activists who confronted Zuckerberg about this said they believed he was wrong.
They said in a statement: ‘We are disappointed and stunned by Mark’s incomprehensible explanations for allowing the Trump posts to remain up.’
[Picture: Anthony Quintano, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70827607]