No fewer than 100 employees of Facebook are advocating for political diversity after a senior engineer in the organisation questioned the company’s “political monoculture” in an internal message board post.
The group represents less than half a percent of the social media giant’s workforce, and members aren’t necessarily even conservative.
But they say they are fed up with the way co-workers who don’t toe the liberal line are treated.
“We are a political monoculture that’s intolerant of different views,” Brian Amerige, a senior Facebook engineer, wrote in the Aug. 20 post titled “We Have a Problem With Political Diversity” that was leaked to the New York Times.
“We claim to welcome all perspectives, but are quick to attack—often in mobs—anyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology.”
Since the post went up, over 100 employees have joined a group called FB’ers for Political Diversity.
Although other Facebook employees reportedly complained that the group’s online posts were offensive to minorities, a source with knowledge of the situation told Fox News the group’s intent is to be a constructive space and includes people on the left and the right.
Facebook employs over 25,000 people and, like most Silicon Valley companies, is seen as having a liberal culture. In May, the company announced that former Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, a Republican, would lead an inquiry into allegations of anti-conservative bias at the social network.
The memo cites a range of concerns, including the removal of posters welcoming supporters of President Trump, the efforts to get Trump-supporter Peter Thiel removed from Facebook’s board, the fact that “All Lives Matter is a “fireable offense,” and Amerige himself being called a “transphobe” for calling Facebook’s corporate art “politically radical.”
A source familiar with the incident said that Facebook’s culture is open and that employees are encouraged to communicate freely in any of the tens of thousands of internal groups.
“On Day 1 of Facebook’s new hire orientation in Menlo Park, everyone hears from our Chief Diversity Officer about the importance of diversity and how to have respectful conversations with people who have different viewpoints,” Bertie Thomson, a Facebook spokesperson, told Fox News.
Read more: Fox News
