Facebook announces $200m for businesses owned by black people
Facebook today announced that it will commit $200m towards businesses owned by black people, the latest in a string of tech giants to announce such initiatives.
In a post, chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg revealed the plan, saying that the firm needed to take action.
She wrote; “The past few weeks have compelled us to confront the reality of violence and injustice which members of the Black community face on a daily basis.
“We have shared words of support for our friends, colleagues and communities. We need to take action as well.”
In recent days, Youtube, Google and Apple have all committed to similar initiatives, promising equity support worth $100m, $175m and $100m respectively.
Facebook will give $100m annually to suppliers such as marketing and construction firms owned by black people, as well $75m in grants for businesses which serve the black community.
The final $25m will be given to black content creators, Sandberg said.
She also said that the firm would commit to increasing representation of people from BAME backgrounds in its leadership positions by 30 per cent over the next five years.
According to the firm’s 2019 diversity report, only 3.8 per cent of Facebook’s employees are black, a figure that falls to 3.1 per cent for leadership positions.
Facebook’s contribution comes after the firm came under fire from its own employees for not taking down a post from US president Donald Trump concerning Black Lives Matters protestors, which read if “When the looting starts, the shooting starts”.
Trump’s post, which referred to protests against the killing of George Floyd in police custody last month, was flagged by Twitter for “glorifying violence”.
Facebook has come under heavy criticism for the decision to leave the post up. Boss Mark Zuckerberg argued:
“We should enable as much expression as possible unless it will cause imminent risk of specific harms or dangers spelled out in clear policies.”