Facebook urges blacks, says ex-employee in a general memo

At first he did not want to move from Atlanta where he lived in Silicon Valley, but he said his fiance had managed to convince him, telling him that this job was an opportunity to make a difference on the social network influential. .

"I was really excited, Facebook is an amazing company that joins a lot of people," said Luckie, 35, in an interview with the Washington Post. "I had not planned to leave."

But as a black employee, he was disappointed by his time spent in the company. After about a year in the company, he decided to resign. And before his last day in mid-November, he wrote a long memo that he sent to the company's staff. The memo is in the news this week after Luckie made it public – on Facebook or elsewhere.

Luckie says the company "defeats its black employees and black users," allegedly excluding them from the events and important work that guides Facebook's service.

Facebook, in a statement, said that he "is doing everything in his power to become a truly inclusive company".

Luckie, who worked as an editor at the Washington Post for about two years until 2012, notes statistics that show that black users are one of the most engaged demographics on Facebook, with more than 15,000 people in the world. users of the service to communicate with their family (63%) and their friends. (60%) than the average population.

"Blacks are the engine of meaningful social interaction that Facebook is trying to facilitate," he wrote.

But Luckie argues that the experiences of black users on Facebook are "far from positive," citing a report from the Reveal Investigation Center that documented examples in which messages of black people were suppressed in form. of "hate speech".

"Under-represented groups are systematically excluded from communication," he wrote. "You can see this in all the guest lists of Facebook's external programs, the industry events that the company has always sponsored, the creators and influencers that appear in the Explore tabs on Instagram, the users experienced on platforms, etc. "

Luckie also points to the low number of black employees in the company, which is part of a longstanding problem regarding the representation of minorities in technology companies. The company announced last summer that 4% of its employees were black, but only 1% and 2% of its employees in technical positions and management positions were black.

According to Bloomberg, the number of black workers in technical jobs in the eight largest technology companies increased slightly, from 2.5% in 2014 to 3.1% in 2017, and the subject remains at the center of discussions about Future of the sector. According to the Commission for Equal Opportunities in Employment, blacks represent only 3% of the employees of the 75 largest companies in Silicon Valley.

"While incremental changes are being made, the fact remains that Facebook's employee population does not reflect its most engaged user base," Luckie wrote. "In some buildings, there are more" Black Lives Matter "posters than real black people."

His experiences in Silicon Valley were also tinged with racism, he said. He refused to name the city in which he lived in the peninsula, but said he was arrested at random by the police on two occasions – once while waiting for the delivery of food to the outside of his apartment complex and another time by traveling from the Facebook shuttle to his home. .

"I nodded and did not make a sudden movement, fortunately the meetings were brief," he said.

Luckie, who previously worked for Twitter and Reddit, also alleged discrimination within the company with regard to black employees.

Facebook has been the subject of much criticism over the last two years due to the disclosure of information about data breaches and persistent misinformation about its service. Its stock is down about 25% over the last year.

"In recent years, we have worked diligently to broaden the outlook among those who build our products and serve those who use them around the world," said Facebook in a statement distributed by spokesman Anthony Harrison. "We want to fully support all employees when problems are reported and when there may be micro-behaviors that add up.We will continue to do everything in our power to become a truly business. inclusive."

In an interview with The Post, Luckie stated that he had decided to write the memo after reviewing the notes he had written to document his experiences within the company, as well as those of Other black employees that he had learned to work there.

He added that he was also motivated by the feeling that Facebook was not taking any action before being held accountable publicly.

"You can see that in every issue: false information, hacking, according to the recent New York Times statement," he said. "And the second reason is that it's not just Facebook – I have worked with resource groups for employees of all technologies and they are dealing with the same things … But we do not have the opportunity to talk of this publicly without risking our career. "

He stated that he had signed a confidentiality agreement but that he intended to disclose nothing confidential.

"What should I lose," he writes in his memo. "I think it's more important to get up and say something."

Back in Atlanta, Luckie is currently working on a sci-fi podcast and worries that he's not working in technology again. He is not worried about his career prospects in the future.

"I have found that the times when I have been the bravest are those where the greatest opportunities have presented themselves," he said.

The Washington Post