Report: Facebook employees wanted Trump posts removed as hate speech

Facebook employees wanted to remove Trump posts as hate speech, and the ruling by CEO Mark Zuckerberg to keep presidential candidate’s posts spurred heated internal debates, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

Some employees argued certain posts about banning Muslims from entering the U.S. should be removed for violating the site’s rules on hate speech, according to the WSJ, who cited people familiar with the matter.

"The decision to allow Mr. Trump's posts went all the way to Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, who ruled in December that it would be inappropriate to censor the candidate, according to the people familiar with the matter," Deepa Seetharaman wrote in the WSJ. (Follow this link to read the full article.) "That decision has prompted employees across the company to complain on Facebook's internal messaging service and in person to Mr. Zuckerberg and other managers that it was bending the site's rules for Mr. Trump, and some employees who work in a group charged with reviewing content on Facebook threatened to quit, the people said."

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KIRO 7 Facebook Live videos of Trump speeches have been removed previously by the company. However, notices sent after the removal noted a copyright violation – an automated message triggered by “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” the song played by Trump at the end of speeches.

Those posts have been restored in each case after appeals by KIRO 7.

Cox Media Group