“Free Speech” Haven Facebook Blocking Internal Criticism of Trump Ally
Within hours of announcing Meta’s policy changes to return the company to its “roots of free expression,” the company has already begun censoring criticism from its own employees, 404 Media reported.
Meta’s “Internal Community Relations team” deleted several posts made by employees criticizing the recent decision to add Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White—a close ally of Donald Trump—to Meta’s board of directors, the outlet revealed Tuesday.
While the response from employees was mixed overall, several were outspoken about their disappointment. While one joked that UFC fighter Connor McGregor would be next to join the company, another employee remarked that it was “kind of disheartening to see people in the comments celebrating a man who is on video assaulting his wife and another who was recently convicted of rape,” referring to White and McGregor, respectively.
“I can kind of excuse individuals for being unaware, but Meta surely did their due diligence on White and concluded that what he did is fine. I feel like I’m on another planet,” wrote a third employee.
Several posts criticizing White were supposedly deleted because they had violated the “Community Engagement Expectations,” or CEE, rules that govern the internal communications between employees.
“I’m posting a comment here with a reminder about the CEE, as multiple comments have been flagged by the community for review,” wrote one member of the Internal Community Relations team in a thread, which explained why posts had been deleted. “It’s important that we maintain a respectful work environment where people can do their best work. We need to keep in mind that the CEE applies to how we communicate with and about members of our community—including members of our Board. Insulting, criticizing, or antagonizing our colleagues or Board members is not aligned with the CEE.”
Tracy Clayton, a Meta spokesperson, told 404 Media that posts that were critical but did not violate the CEE had not been taken down. Clayton emphasized that the internal and external moderation policies were completely separate.
The censorship feels particularly hypocritical considering that Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that the company’s platforms would no longer use third-party fact-checking services, in favor of community notes. They would also dial back content filters, allow more discussion around topics such as gender and immigration, and raise the threshold for removing a post—all changes that directly benefit right-wing speech.
Meta’s policy chief said that the announcement was inspired by Trump’s return to the White House, and even Trump speculated that the decision had “probably” been in response to threats he made against Zuckerberg.
White’s installation at the top of a major social media company signals a big shift in corporations toward appeasing both Trump specifically and the larger manosphere in general.