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Ex-Facebook exec ousted from company sparked controversy with pro-Trump views: report
A former top executive at Facebook who was ousted from the company may have been fired over his support for Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal reported Sunday that Palmer Luckey has recently told people that he was fired for supporting Trump before that year's presidential election. Luckey's donation in September 2016 to NimbleAmerica, a group that funded ads attacking Hillary Clinton, reportedly sparked backlash within Facebook.
Six months after making that donation, Luckey was no longer at the company. The Journal noted that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of Congress this year that Luckey's departure had nothing to do with his political beliefs.
According to the Journal, Luckey was first put on leave and later fired. In the fall of 2016, Zuckerberg pressured Luckey to voice support publicly for Gary Johnson, the libertarian nominee in that year's election, the Journal reported, citing internal emails and sources familiar with the conversations.
"Zuckerberg lied to Congress" could become a bipartisan statement.
Also at NBC.
Previously: Founder of Oculus VR, Palmer Luckey, Departs Facebook
Oculus Co-Founder Pitches Virtual Border Wall
Related: Oculus VR Founder Palmer Luckey on the Need for "Unlimited Graphics Horsepower"
Facebook/Oculus Ordered to pay $500 Million to ZeniMax
Palmer Luckey Donates to CrossVR Patreon
Oculus Co-Founder Brendan Iribe Leaves Facebook
(Score: 3, Insightful) by schad on Wednesday November 14 2018, @01:25AM (1 child)
What was his personal involvement with that whole trade secrets dispute?
My understanding is that the trade secrets came with John Carmack (of id, which was later bought by Zenimax). Even if Palmer hired Carmack specifically with the intent of using Carmack to steal Zenimax's trade secrets, it's hard to see how most of the blame for that wouldn't rest with Carmack -- who, by the way, still works for Facebook, as far as I know.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday November 14 2018, @01:56AM
I checked again, and it turns out that Luckey violated the NDA he had with ZeniMax.
Either way, he cost Facebook money and showed poor judgement.
Anyway, firing people because of their political beliefs is illegal and Facebook are not stupid.