Conservative Facebook employees protest ‘intolerant’ liberal culture

Facebook
cofounder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

There’s a potential civil war brewing at Facebook.

Conservative employees are up in arms against what they argue is
an “intolerant” liberal culture at the tech company.

A private group on the famously liberal Silicon Valley firm’s
internal message board has been set up in protest with more than
160 members, posters are appearing around campus, and Facebook
employees are having heated internal debates around the subject,

as Business Insider detailed in a recent report.

“‘I disagree of what you say, but I will defend to the death your
right to say it.’ We need to channel Voltaire more in the company
today,” one employee wrote to his colleagues. “So many viewpoints
are summarily dismissed as *ist/*obe because they are not
understood.”

The tense atmosphere highlights how even famously liberal Silicon
Valley has become sucked into the vortex of America’s chaotic
national politics, as companies like Facebook grapple with their
political role and influence on the public stage and within the
workplace.

“You can…see the dripping of hate off them,” one Facebook
employee told Business Insider, describing the way “liberal”
employees behave around their outspoken conservative colleagues.

The aggrieved Facebook employees complain that the company
doesn’t tolerate non-liberal viewpoints, and many conservatives
believe they need to stay “in the closet” about their political
beliefs. 

The Facebook employee also said conservatives at the company
believe they can be fired more easily than others, citing ousted
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey as an example: “If you’re
conservative at Facebook, you’re already walking on eggshells.
You will get fired quicker than if you’re a liberal in seconds.”

Reached for comment, Facebook spokesperson Bertie Thomson
referred Business Insider to a statement issued Tuesday: “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.”

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