SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 18, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Facebook on Thursday said it is
updating workplace policy to prevent clashes over politics, racial justice or
the pandemic on its internal employee message board.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg discussed the move during a question-and-
answer session with employees.
“What we’ve heard from our employees is that they want the option to join
debates on social and political issues rather than see them unexpectedly in
their work feed,” Facebook spokesman Joe Osborne said in response to an AFP
inquiry.
“We’re updating our employee policies and work tools to ensure our culture
remains respectful and inclusive.”
Facebook is strengthening its harassment policy so that employees from
under-represented communities don’t face hostile work environments, according
to Osborne.
The Silicon Valley-based internet titan said will also make it clearer
which parts of its Workplace internal message board is for discussing
contentious political or social issues, and carefully moderate those
conversations.
Facebook’s role in the spread of misinformation, hate, or rhetoric has made
those workplace topics as well as issues that employees may have strong
personal opinions about.
The tech giant is exploring ways to promote civil, open debates focused on
work, with all involved remaining professional, according to Osborne.
Details of how Facebook intends to achieve that goal were still being
worked out, he said.
Facebook’s move came on the heels of a CNBC report that Google is calling
on workers to more judiciously manage internal message board conversations
due to complaints about heated, abusive posts.
A shift to remote work at tech firms has ramped up use of internal message
boards for worker collaboration and conversation.
A year ago Google updated workplace guidelines for “Googlers,” calling on
them to be responsible, helpful, and thoughtful during exchanges on internal
message boards or other conversation forums.
“While sharing information and ideas with colleagues helps build community,
disrupting the workday to have a raging debate over politics or the latest
news story does not,” the updated guidelines stated.
“Our primary responsibility is to do the work we’ve each been hired to do,
not to spend working time on debates about non-work topics.”
Managers or those moderating forums were directed to intervene if the
policy is violated, revoking comments, ending discussions, or even taking
disciplinary action.
The Alphabet-owned internet giant is expanding that moderation scheme to
involve more internal discussion groups, according to CNBC.