In a leaked recording of a Tuesday all-hands meeting, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reaffirmed to his employees that Facebook would not take down President Trump’s post reading, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” Recode reports. Zuckerberg reportedly told staff, “the right action for where we are right now is to leave this up.” Twitter hid a tweet identical to what was posted on Facebook behind a warning label, saying Trump’s words violated the social network’s terms of service by glorifying violence. Trump used language similar to that of segregationist law enforcement officers referring to black protesters in the 1960s, but Zuckerberg said, “We basically concluded after the research and after everything I’ve read and all the different folks that I’ve talked to that the reference is clearly to aggressive policing—maybe excessive policing—but it has no history of being read as a dog whistle for vigilante supporters to take justice into their own hands.” Hundreds of Facebook employees, frustrated with Zuckerberg’s decision, virtually walked out of work Monday, a first for the company. Two have resigned publicly over the matter.
