Facebook has been a trending news topic for the past few weeks, mainly because the tech company’s founder and CEO is on trial.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, has been questioned about the social site’s lack of user privacy and possible interference and influence on the 2016 Presidential election. During Zuckerberg’s hearing, Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-New York) asked him if he thought fake news was prolific in the 2016 election because his company lacks diversity.
“I’m concerned that there are not eyes that are culturally competent looking at these things and being able to see how this would impact civil society,” Clarke said during the hearing. “If everyone within the organization is monolithic, then you can miss these things very easily.”
Clarke also said some advertisers were acting on preconceived notions and hate speech that attacks, threatens or insults a person or group based on their race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or disability, among other traits.
Facebook currently has a majority of white male employees. Men account for 65 percent, and white people make up half of the company, according to its self-reported diversity data. The data also found that the company’s senior leadership is 71 percent white and 72 percent male.
Twitter and Google also have a majority of older white men in their faculty. More than 60 percent of men make up Twitter’s company, and 44 percent are white men, according to Twitter’s self-reported diversity data. According to Google’s self-reported diversity data, 69 percent of Google’s faculty are men, and 56 percent are white.
Karen North, a communications professor at the University of Southern California, said she believes a lack of diversity is not the primary problem.
“I support an increase in diversity, but fake news is present because revenue is selling ads with messages and fake news,” North said. “A lack of diversity is not the primary problem. In order to minimize the amount of persuasive messages and ads, Facebook has to change their advertising rules and impose government regulation.”
North said Facebook is in a bind because they are a third-party platform, which means users are allowed to create their own content; therefore, Facebook cannot be sued or responsible for content.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) also asked Zuckerberg why Facebook’s advertisers used a person’s race to tailor ads to specific individuals. This question stemmed from the amount of ads that focused on peoples’ prejudices and criticized groups like Black Lives Matter.
While being questioned, Zuckerberg said regulation could potentially hurt the company’s smaller rivals.
“Part of the challenge with regulation, in general, is that when you add more rules that companies need to follow, that’s something that a larger company like ours has the resources to do,” Zuckerberg said during the hearing.
Senators and Congress members said in the hearing that if more people with different viewpoints are present, then a more inclusive product, service or outcome will happen.
Women compose half of the population in the United States, United Kingdom and Brazil, but they only have leadership positions in 12, 16 and 6 percent of companies in those countries, respectively, according to McKinsey & Company’s 2015 Diversity Matters study.
Companies that have more gender and ethnic diversity are likely to perform better, according to the McKinsey & Company study. The study also found companies with diversity have better financial performance.
