Facebook's boss, Mark Zuckerberg, frustrated by the executive who was clearly supporting Brett Kavanaugh

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As Brett Kavanaugh slowly headed for confirmation as a Supreme Court Judge in Washington on Friday,
Facebook

Employees gathered for an emergency public meeting nearly 5,000 kilometers away to express their frustration with one of Kavanaugh's supporters in their ranks.

Joel Kaplan, Facebook's vice president for global public policy, annoyed the employees after sitting behind Kavanaugh. The judge answered questions at the Senate hearing last week about allegations of sexual misconduct that the judge denied. On Friday, Kaplan solemnly addressed employees at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, according to a person who attended the meeting.

Facebook general manager Mark Zuckerberg and general manager Sheryl Sandberg, who also attended the meeting, which was also broadcast live, expressed frustration that Kaplan had inserted Facebook into the busiest political debate. and the most controversial in the country. Another participant described the atmosphere as tense and Kaplan's comments as conciliatory, although he defended his long-standing friendship with Kavanaugh. Both men worked in the administration of President George W. Bush.

Zuckerberg and Sandberg pointed out that Facebook is a place of diverse opinions that must be tolerated and supported, said the first conference participant, who requested anonymity.

Facebook declined to comment on this article. In a statement before Friday's meeting, the company said, "Sexual assault is a problem that society has turned a blind eye to it for far too long – compounding each victim's pain. Our management team acknowledges having made mistakes in managing last week's events and we are grateful for all the feedback from our employees. "

Hundreds of Facebook (FB) employees would be furious over Kaplan's appearance on the country's TV screens and flooded corporate officials with protest messages. Employees had already been trapped by the fact that the company had been embroiled in political debate over Russia's handling of the platform during the 2016 presidential election, as well as conservative claims. according to which Facebook and other personalities had a biased attitude in the way they treated their content.

Kaplan's public support has only added to Facebook's pile of headaches, especially as federal lawmakers are increasingly being subject to regulatory oversight over data processing. users.

Last month, the company revealed that she had been the victim of a data breach affecting at least 50 million accounts. This error could cost him $ 1.63 billion in fines from the Irish Data Protection Commission.

A few days earlier, the company had suffered the brutal defection of two of its most important employees, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, who co-founded the Instagram mobile photo sharing app and sold it to Facebook for $ 1 billion in 2012.