Facebook has a problem with 'black people': Ex-Employee

An ex-employee of Facebook has accused the company of having a 'black people problem’ in a publicly published note on the social networking site. 

Mark Luckie, Former Strategic Partner Manager at Facebook highlighted that black employee’s population of Facebook's is not representative of its black user base. The note says that the platform's most engaged demographics and an unmatched cultural trendsetter is having their community divided by the actions and inaction of the company. This loss is a direct reflection of the staffing and treatment of many of its black employees.

He said, “In my role as Strategic Partner Manager for Global Influencers focused on underrepresented voices, I’ve been uniquely exposed to the issues surrounding the internal and external representation of black people here. Through formal meetings, backchannel conversations, and casual chats over coffee, some common themes have emerged.”

Luckie also highlighted the HR function at Facebook. When black employees sometimes turn to HR in search of a resolution. He alleged that black people experiences were rationalized away or they were made to believe these disheartening patterns are a figment of our imagination. 

He added, “Black staffers at Facebook know that by raising our voices we risk jeopardizing our professional relationships and our career advancement. As much as we’d like to convince ourselves these are minor inconveniences, they continue to eat away at us and affect our work. It’s only when talking to other black employees experiencing the same issues that we come to accept that it is a pattern of behavior deeply connected to the culture at Facebook.” 

The social media company has responded to the note, Facebook spokesperson Anthony Harrison said that the company has been working diligently to increase the range of perspectives among those who build their products and serve the people who use them throughout the world.