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Color Of Change Responds to Facebook Employee Resignation

For Immediate Release: September 8, 2020

Media Contact: media@colorofchange.org

Color Of Change: Facebook Employee’s Resignation is a Symptom of Company’s Unchecked Abuse of Power and Failure to Enforce Policies

NATIONWIDE — In response to Facebook employee Ashok Chandwaney’s resignation citing Facebook’s willingness to profit from hate on its platform, as reported by The Washington Post, Color Of Change President Rashad Robinson issued the following statement:

“We applaud Ashok Chandwaney for speaking truth to power and for taking a bold stand against Facebook’s repeated failures to stop the proliferation of targeted hate, violent content, far-right militia organizing, and hate group recruitment on its platform. In the absence of true leadership from Facebook to address hate and misinformation on the platform, Facebook employees are stepping up to push for progress and joining the movement to hold the world’s largest social media company responsible for its harmful choices, hollow excuses, and its continual decision to profit from hate in order to keep the platform in political favor with those in power. Color Of Change is happy to support them, but it’s a shame Facebook employees feel the need to turn to civil rights organizations to protect communities of color, rather than their own employer.

Earlier this summer, a string of Facebook employees resigned in protest over the company’s decision to take no action on President Trump’s “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” Facebook post, which is still up on the platform to this day. Facebook leadership’s disappointing decisions clearly continue to hit their employees hard.

The company’s sluggish and insufficient response to the Civil Rights Audit — which Color Of Change pushed for over the course of many years — and their refusal to fully address the demands laid out by #StopHateForProfit are two glaring indicators of Facebook’s complicity in fueling targeted hate and misinformation on its platform. Facebook time and time again fails to adequately enforce its policies and deliberately chooses to let violent, hateful content and disinformation thrive on its platform to maximize profit and protect the voices of white nationalists at the expense of the safety of Black, Indigenous, and people of color. It’s clear that Facebook is incapable of self-regulating, and it’s time regulatory agencies and lawmakers heed our call for oversight.

Color Of Change stands in solidarity with Facebook employees who are sounding the alarm on the company’s inaction and abuses of power. We call on all Facebook employees to continue to scrutinize their employer’s decisions, the incentives behind them, and the motives of their leaders, including Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and Joel Kaplan. While it should not be on employees nor civil rights organizations to make Facebook a safe platform, our voices matter. Progress is made possible when people speak out. We will continue to demand Facebook stop fueling hate groups, fire leaders like Kaplan who have aligned with forces defending white nationalists, and immediately enact systemic change.”

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About Color Of Change:

Color Of Change is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. We help people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by over 7 million members, we move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America. Visit www.colorofchange.org.

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