Facebook Investor Suit Blames Ad Exodus on Racial ‘Tokenism’
(Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. was accused in an investor lawsuit of paying lip service to racial diversity while failing to achieve meaningful progress.
Shareholder Natalie Ocegueda claims that the company's failure to deal with racial issues is responsible for the recent exodus of advertisers who have faulted the social network's attempts to limit hate speech.
The lawsuit cites as an example of Facebook's shortcomings its refusal to remove President Donald Trump's racial tinged post, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” during the start of the Black Lives Matters protests. Ocegueda also noted the resignation this year from the company board of Kenneth Chenault, an African American who ran American Express from 2001 to 2018.
“Facebook's approach to diversity has been characterized by tokenism: make a small gesture to satisfy appearances, but don't make any underlying substantial change,” according to the complaint.
Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case is Ocegueda v. Zuckerberg, 3:20-cv-04444, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
Read More: Zuckerberg to Meet Civil Rights Groups That Led Facebook Boycott
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