*By Alex Heath*
Facebook has failed to properly address its “black people problem,” a former employee told Cheddar Wednesday.
Earlier this month, former partnerships manager Mark Luckie sent a searing memo criticizing the company’s lack of racial diversity to Facebook employees shortly before he left his post.
He recently published the memo, which quickly went viral.
While most Silicon Valley tech companies don't feature a diverse workforce, Luckie said Facebook, given its scale and massive user base, has a greater responsibility.
“You’re talking about a company that affects 2.5 billion people directly who engage with its products,” he said. “And Facebook touts itself as a place that is engaged with diversity and really thinking about these issues.”
Facebook’s workforce is only 4 percent black, despite the company’s commissioned research showing that African Americans are more likely to use its platform to communicate with people in the U.S.
Just one day after Luckie published his memo, Facebook announced that it was donating $1 million to CodePath.org, an organization that offers computer classes to minorities. In response to Luckie’s memo, a Facebook spokesperson told Cheddar that, “We are going to keep doing all we can to be a truly inclusive company.”
Employee morale is at an all-time low at Facebook, according to The Wall Street Journal. And externally, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg are under intense public scrutiny over the company’s many privacy and misinformation scandals.
“I think it’s important going forward that the company think of the worst possible uses of its platform and not just the best case scenarios, because when you do that you’re able to avoid some of the issues that Facebook has gone through up to this point,” Luckie said.
Cheddar News checked in from Staten Island to learn more about the Lenape people and how they lived before the Dutch settled in. Luke G. Boyd, director of education and public programs of Historic Richmond Town, discussed their story and showed their typical dwellings.
Elon Musk said his cage fight against Mark Zuckerberg will stream on 'X,' the app formerly known as Twitter.
Restaurant Week in New York City continues through Aug. 20 and Cheddar News checked out some of the most delicious and inspirational dishes at Dagon Restaurant, a Mediterranean-style eatery known for its exquisite cuisine and led by Chef Ari Bokovza.
Greta Gerwig's 'Barbie' movie has reached $1 billion in sales at the box office.
Dungeons & Dragons is updating its artists' guidelines and said illustrators will no longer work with artificial intelligence.
Luke G. Boyd, director of education and public programs of Historic Richmond Town, spoke with Cheddar News about Voorlezer's House in Staten Island, NY, the site of one of the oldest schoolhouses in the country. The historic building, which was built around the 1700s, and Boyd explained the history behind the schoolhouse.
After no big winner Friday night, the Mega Millions jackpot climbed to an estimated $1.55 billion.
Because no one matched all six numbers and won the estimated $1.35 billion jackpot, the top prize increased to $1.55 billion for the next drawing Tuesday night.
In just three weeks in theaters, “Barbie” is set to sail past $1 billion in global ticket sales, breaking a record for female directors that was previously held by Patty Jenkins, who helmed “Wonder Woman.”
Social media influencer Kai Cenat is facing charges of inciting a riot and promoting an unlawful gathering in New York City, after the online streamer drew thousands of his followers, many of them teenagers, with promises of giving away electronics, including a new PlayStation.
