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On January 11, Sophie Alpert, a Facebook technical manager who ran a major open source project called React, announced on Twitter: "Today is my last day on Facebook."
Four days earlier, Alpert, who identified as transgender, had provided this reason in an internal message consulted by CNBC. Alpert wrote on Workplace, Facebook's internal social network, that she had been harbaded by her colleagues after criticizing the lack of diversity within the company. Among other things, she said she was attacked on Blind, an anonymous application at the workplace.
"Facebook is good for a lot of people, but it's not the right place for me at the moment," wrote Alpert. "I wish to spend my time in a place ready to go further in diversity and inclusion.In a place where it is not correct to write on Workplace, the privilege of whites n & # 39; In which, if I say that our board has too many white men, I do not get harbaded by other Blind employees with transphobic messages saying that I should be fired. "
The problem of Facebook's diversity has been overshadowed over the last year by the biggest crises within the company related to protecting users' privacy and securing the platform against manipulations by foreign actors. With a stockpile down more than 15% over the last 12 months, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is fully engaged with users, advertisers, investors and lawmakers concerned.
In turmoil, Facebook is also facing a mbadive exodus of talent, from the departure of Instagram's founders and WhatsApp to security chief Alex Stamos.
As illustrated by the case of Alpert, at least part of it concerns fundamental cultural issues. In November, Mark Luckie, an African-American leader who had just quit Facebook, accused the company of having "a black people problem" and said that "in some buildings, there are more people out there." "Black Lives Matter" posters that there are some are real black people ".
Facebook, like most of its Silicon Valley peers, is predominantly male and very white. According to last year's Diversity Report, 36% of the company's more than 30,000 employees were women, up from 31% in 2014. Women held 22% of technical positions last year, compared to 15% years earlier. Black employees accounted for only 4% of the company in 2018, while those in technical and managerial positions were even less represented.
Facebook said the number of employees who identified themselves as "LGBQA + or Trans +" had risen for a third consecutive year to 8%. The company also said it has set up "affinity groups" around the world for LGBTQ and trans employees.
Alpert has not responded to requests for comments. Anthony Harrison, a spokesman for Facebook, said in a statement to CNBC that the company did not tolerate harbadment and had "clear policies on how people should communicate and treat each other on Facebook."
Harrison also commented specifically on Alpert.
"Sophie is aware of the seriousness with which we have taken her concerns since she has spent a lot of time with the members of our human resources team who have worked tirelessly to solve the problems related to Blind", a- he declared. "Since the comments in question were made anonymously, we could not find who posted them."
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