If you’re an employee in a company that uses Facebook for Workplace, you’ll see trending topics in your feed similar to the social network’s News Feed on your personal profile. The Intercept’s report notes that recently, Facebook debuted a tool that allows admins to block certain trending topics from that feed. What’s alarming is that one of the examples used to highlight this feature was “unionize.” In response, a Facebook spokesperson told TNW that the company has pulled any plans to roll it out: Some notable companies such as Walmart, Nestle, and Spotify use the social network’s Workplace product. In difficult times like the pandemic when several firms are laying off employees, it’s cruel to suppress labor voices that might be trying to mitigate the situation. The Intercept’s report noted that after employees denounced the feature, the presentation was deleted. Karandeep Anand, a product manager apologized and said the feature was not meant for censoring users. Earlier this month, after showing their displeasure on Twitter, Facebook employees hosted a virtual walkout to protest against the company’s decision to not act on Trump’s post. Meanwhile, a report from Vice suggests that the company censored an account that copied Trump’s post word to word. However, the company later restored the account and said the post had been “deleted in error.”
