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Facebook’s prime executives sought to rally staff round enterprise priorities like commerce and digital actuality at a year-end assembly on Tuesday, enjoying down criticism confronted this yr of the corporate’s report on false and violent speech.
“The way out is through. I believe the only way forward is to keep working,” Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg advised staff, in response to audio of the handle heard by Reuters.
Zuckerberg acknowledged that criticism of Facebook had harm employees morale, saying public scrutiny “comes with the territory.” But he additionally struck a defiant tone, arguing that at least among the pushback got here from rivals or these with an curiosity in tarnishing Facebook’s status.
“We also have to recognise that we have many competitors, and there are people who believe that their success depends on us failing. So it’s important that we don’t just reflexively accept all criticism,” he stated.
Critics have blasted Facebook this yr over its hands-off strategy to speech on its providers, together with in a uncommon walkout by employees accusing Zuckerberg of inadequately policing US President Donald Trump’s posts.
The world’s largest social community additionally grappled with an advertiser boycott this summer season over its dealing with of hate speech, the unfold of violent rhetoric across the US presidential election in November and a brewing struggle with regulators over alleged anticompetitive behaviour.
Despite these headwinds, Zuckerberg and different executives who spoke at Tuesday’s periods, together with Chief Product Officer Chris Cox and Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer, largely tried to maintain the concentrate on expertise and product priorities.
Zuckerberg stated he could be “particularly focused” on applied sciences that ship “a deeper sense of presence,” like augmented and digital actuality.
He additionally stated the corporate had a “unique opportunity around commerce and payments,” in addition to constructing instruments that will allow collaboration between individuals working remotely.
Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, who has performed a much less outstanding public position with Facebook than in earlier years, closed the session by thanking staff for adapting to distant working preparations prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
She stated about 20,000 new staff joined the corporate this yr, together with 17,000 employed after the pandemic’s begin who had by no means set foot in a Facebook workplace.
© Thomson Reuters 2020
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(This story has not been edited by Newslivenation employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
