Facebook Techie Ashok Chandwaney Resigns, Accuses Social Media Giant of Profiting Off Hate
Ashok Chandwaney, a software engineer at Facebook, has quit his post, shooting a scathing letter at the company's internal employee network.
Washington, September 9: Ashok Chandwaney, a software engineer at Facebook, has quit his post, shooting a scathing letter at the company's internal employee network. In his letter, Ashok Chandwaney, who is gender non-binary and uses “they” and “them” as pronouns, accused Facebook of profiting off hate, alleging that the social media giant has not taken enough measures to curb the rise on the platform of racism, disinformation and incitements to violence. Facebook to Block New Political Ads in Final Week Before US Presidential Elections 2020, Mark Zuckerberg Lists Measures to Reduce Chaos.
“I’m quitting because I can no longer stomach contributing to an organization that is profiting off hate in the US and globally,” Chandwaney wrote in his letter. The 18-year-old techie specifically cited Facebook's role in fueling genocide in Myanmar and, more recently, violence in Kenosha. Facebook did not take down the Kenosha Guard militia Page and Event prior to the shooting in Wisconsin in the US that left two dead.
An armed civilian killed two people in Wisconsin who were protesting against the shooting of 29-year-old Blake by the police. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg blamed an operational mistake by the third-party contractors and reviewers for not removing the eKenosha' Page and Event from the platform. The Kenosha Guard militia established a Facebook Page in June this year. Kenosha Journalist Quits After Coverage of Jacob Blake Rally.
"It is clear to me that despite the best efforts of many of us who work here, and outside advocates like Color Of Change, Facebook is choosing to be on the wrong side of history," Chandwaney, South Asian descent and who is based in the Seattle, told The Washington Post.
Ashok Chandwaney Writes Post After Quitting Facebook:
Facebook, however, has denied allegations made by them. “We don’t benefit from hate. We invest billions of dollars each year to keep our community safe and are in deep partnership with outside experts to review and update our policies. This summer we launched an industry leading policy to go after QAnon, grew our fact-checking program, and removed millions of posts tied to hate organizations — over 96% of which we found before anyone reported them to us," Facebook spokeswoman Liz Bourgeois was quoted by The Washinton Post as saying.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 09, 2020 05:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).