Facebook’s Zuckerberg and Sandberg criticize Trump’s actions

  28 January 2017    Read: 1345
Facebook’s Zuckerberg and Sandberg criticize Trump’s actions
Facebook executives Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg spoke out this week against Donald Trump’s first actions as president.
Zuckerberg, the 32-year-old tech mogul, said Friday in a post on Facebook that he was concerned about the recent orders signed by Trump.

On Friday, Trump called for “extreme vetting” measures for immigrants from countries with ties to terrorism. Some media outlets reported the order would temporarily block all refugees from entering the United States for 120 days and suspend Syrian refugees from entering the country indefinitely. The president this week also called for the creation of a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.

For Zuckerberg, immigration is an issue that’s personal. His great grandparents are immigrants, his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan’s parents came to the United States as Chinese-Vietnamese refugees and he once taught a middle school class where some of his best students were undocumented.

“Expanding the focus of law enforcement beyond people who are real threats would make all Americans less safe by diverting resources, while millions of undocumented folks who don’t pose a threat will live in fear of deportation,” he wrote. “We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help. That’s who we are. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla’s family wouldn’t be here today.”

Zuckerberg, who also backs immigration lobbying group FWD.us, isn’t the only Facebook executive to break his or her silence on social media about Trump’s executive actions.

“If there’s a silver lining to the unraveling of decency, normalcy and this daily reset on just how bad things can get — it’s that times like this drive us to look to our history to remember the bedrock of our values,” wrote Chris Cox, Facebook’s chief product officer, who linked to Zuckerberg’s remarks on Facebook.

On Thursday, Sheryl Sandberg criticized Trump’s action to ban U.S. aid to providers of abortion counseling and services overseas. Facebook’s chief operating officer had been mostly silent — at least publicly — about the issues that concern women after the election of Trump as president. The “Lean In” author, known for her advocacy on women’s rights and careers and for sharing her feelings via Facebook posts, was conspicuously quiet about last weekend’s women’s marches, which drew millions of protesters around the nation and world.

“It is impossible to imagine that Sandberg has absolutely nothing to say about the women’s march, that she simply didn’t notice it happened. It strains credulity almost as much as the idea that Facebook’s trending news algorithm didn’t notice it. It’s particularly remarkable given how much of the march was organized on Facebook,” wrote Sarah Lacy for Pando Daily.

But Thursday, Sandberg finally said something, and it was about one of the Trump administration’s first orders of business this week, which was to reinstate what critics call “the global gag rule.” The Reagan-era policy freezes U.S. aid to nongovernmental and health organizations that even talk about abortion in foreign countries.

“Comprehensive family planning helps prevent unintended pregnancies, deaths and abortions,” Sandberg said in a Facebook post. “This week’s executive order reinstating the global gag rule will make that work much harder.”

Noting that she started her career working with the World Bank in India, she also said:

“I saw firsthand how clinics funded by foreign aid are often the only source of health care for women. When women are given even the most basic health care information and services, they live longer, healthier lives — and they give birth to children who live longer, healthier lives.”

The new policy, she said, “could have terrible consequences for women and families around the world.” Sandberg’s criticism comes as Mike Pence became the first U.S. vice president to speak at Friday’s March for Life rally, the annual anti-abortion march in Washington.

Comments on her Facebook post were mixed. Some thanked and agreed with Sandberg; others voiced their support for the president; and at least one person called her out for meeting with Trump.

Sandberg was one of the many business executives who publicly supported Hillary Clinton for president, and contributed to Democrats. After Trump’s victory, however, she was also one of the top tech executives to attend Trump’s forum in New York in December.

Like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sandberg’s name has been floated around as a possible politician. She has some experience in government service, though, serving as chief of staff of the Treasury Department under Lawrence Summers during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

Zuckerberg recently told BuzzFeed he doesn’t plan to run for president. So, Sandberg for 2020?

“There are few women out there that I think could sort of step into that void the way Sandberg can,” Mo Elleithee, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton who’s now executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service, told RealClear Politics.

/The Mercury news/

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