The Washington Post | By: Hayley Tsukayama | June 1 2017:
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced sharp criticism Thursday during the company’s annual shareholders meeting about how the company operates, deals with violence and handles fake news.
Shareholders submitted five proposals critical of the company’s top-heavy structure, as well as the way Facebook curates its content. All five were heard and rejected by majority vote; Zuckerberg controls more than 50 percent of Facebook’s shareholder votes.
Arjuna Capital and Baldwin Brothers, two smaller investors, called on Facebook to publish a report examining the public policy implications of its guidelines around “fake news.”
“To be clear, we are talking about content that is posted and disseminated with the intent to mislead, not the mainstream media, which the president refers to as fake news,” said Natasha Lamb, Arjuna Capital’s director of equity research and shareholder engagement. She added that Facebook needs to take clear action on the issue or risk alienating its audience. Lamb also spoke on behalf of a petition to have Facebook release information about its gender pay disparity, saying the firm is lagging behind its competitors on this front.
Another group, SumofUs, had filed a petition to remove Zuckerberg as Facebook’s chairman, arguing that his current role gives him far too much power. “We don’t think you should be your own boss, Mr. Zuckerberg,” representatives from the consumer watchdog group said at the meeting.
In an open question-and-answer session, the Rev. Jesse Jackson asked Zuckerberg to develop an independent advisory commission to address the growing trend of Facebook users sharing violent videos. “There is no place for live killings to be broadcast on Facebook,” Jackson said.
Zuckerberg, who took questions after a brief speech, addressed some shareholder concerns.
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