In Their Own Words
Read internal messages among Facebook employees discussing their frustrations with the company.
Editor's note: The following messages are direct quotes from Facebook employees. We’ve reproduced screenshots to make them more legible.
“Hang in there … for what exactly?”
Mike Schroepfer: “For the future. This was a tough day but it doesn’t mean the future can’t be better.”
“what are we going to do differently to make the future better? If the answer is nothing then we’re just that apocryphal Einstein quote on the definition of insanity”
Staffers respond to Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer, after he sent them a message of support on January 6, 2021.
“All due respect, but haven’t we had enough time to figure out how to manage discourse without enabling violence? We’ve been fueling this fire for a long time and we shouldn’t be surprised it’s now out of control.”
“Please understand, I think you are a great person and genuinely one of the good people in leadership that keeps me here. But we cannot deal with fundamentally bad-faith actors by using good-faith solutions.”
Staffers respond to Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer, after he sent them a message of support on January 6, 2021.
“really do appreciate this response, and I can imagine the stress leadership is under. But this feels like the only avenue where we opt to compare ourselves to other companies rather than taking our own lead. If our headsets shocked someone, would we say ‘well it’s still much better than PlayStation VR, and it’s unprecedented technology.’ I wish I felt otherwise, but it’s simply not enough to say we’re adapting, because we should have adapted already long ago. The atrophy occurs when people know how to circumvent our policies and we’re too reactive to stay ahead. There were dozens of Stop the Steal groups active up until yesterday, and I doubt they minced words about their intentions. Again, hugely appreciate your response and the dialogue, but I’m simply exhausted by the weight here. We’re FB, not some, naive, start up. With the unprecedented resources we have, we should do better.”
On January 6, 2021, Facebook employees said they struggled with feeling that the company was responsible for fueling the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Please continue to fight for us, Schrep. Facebook Engineering needs you representing our ethical standards in the highest levels of leadership. Unless Zuck wants his products built by a cast of mercenaries and ghouls, we need to employ thousands of thoughtful, caring engineers, and it will be difficult to continue to hire and retain them on our present course.”
“Schrep, employees are tired of ‘thoughts and prayers’ from leadership. We want action.”
Employees respond to Mike “Schrep” Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer, on January 6, 2021.
“Never forget the day Trump rode down the escalator in 2015, called for a ban on Muslims entering the US, we determined that it violated our policies, and yet we explicitly overrode the policy and didn’t take the video down.
There is a straight line that can be drawn from that day to today, one of the darkest days in the history of democracy and self-governance.
Would it have made a difference in the end? We can never know but history will not judge us kindly.”
“I’m struggling to match my values to my employment here. I came here hoping to affect change and improve society, but all I’ve seen is atrophy and abdication of responsibility. I’m tired of platitudes; I want action items. We’re not a neutral entity.”
“Not only do we not do something about combustible election misinformation in comments, we amplify them and give them broader distribution. Why?”
A Facebook employee expresses concern on November 5, 2020, two days after the U.S. presidential election.