Ex-employee accuses Facebook of unfairly treating its black employees, users

Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook has been accused of having "a black people problem." On a social media post on Tuesday, an ex-employee, Mark Luckie, said that the company lacks diversity.

Luckie in his Facebook post said, "There is often more diversity in Keynote presentations than the teams who present them. In some buildings, there are more 'Black Lives Matter' posters than there are black people. Facebook can't claim that it is connecting communities if those communities aren't represented proportionately in its staffing," he added. He had initially shared this issue with other employees of Facebook on November 8.

Luckie's post also mentioned that Facebook's black users are also unfairly treated. Luckie's statement comes at a time when Facebook is already under probe for spreading misinformation on its platform. He further wrote, "Black staffers at Facebook know that by raising our voices we risk jeopardising our professional relationships and our career advancement." Luckie's note highlights how colleagues at Facebook treated him and other employees differently based on skin colour.

Facebook is failing its Black employees and its Black users. Here's why: https://t.co/PJSRrFJZrO pic.twitter.com/LeCYxCwBpX

- Mark S. Luckie (@marksluckie) November 27, 2018

Facebook spokesman Anthony Harrison provided a public statement in response to Luckie's post. The statement reads that the company has "been working diligently to increase the range of perspectives among those who build our products and serve the people who use them throughout the world."

Harrison said, "We want to fully support all employees when there are issues reported and when there may be micro-behaviours that add up. We are going to keep doing all we can to be a truly inclusive company."

This is not the first time when Facebook has been accused of its lack of diversity. Facebook's head of diversity, Maxine Williams in July said, "You can build something that works that people want to use, but you can't make all the right decisions if among the builders there's not enough diversity and perspective," reported CNBC.

(Edited by Vivek Dubey)