San Francisco (AFP)

Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Facebook, wants to re-examine the regulations which led him not to moderate the polemical messages of Donald Trump, after a week of internal disputes.

"We are going to review our rules which allow discussion and the threat of state use of force, to see if we should adopt amendments," he said in his profile on Friday in a note to his employees. And first and foremost, "the excessive use of force. Given the sensitive history of the United States, this requires special attention," he added.

Unlike Twitter, the thumbs up platform had decided not to intervene against a message from the American president - "The lootings will be immediately greeted by bullets" - about the demonstrations in support of George Floyd which sometimes degenerated into riots.

The death of this African-American, asphyxiated by a white police officer in Minneapolis, sparked a wave of revolt against police violence and racism in the United States.

"I want to recognize that the decision I made last week has upset, disappointed or hurt many of you," said the founder of the global social network.

In the days following the controversial messages from the President, dozens of employees expressed their dissatisfaction, in public or not. They organized a virtual strike on Monday and at least two engineers resigned.

"Facebook provides a platform that allows politicians to radicalize individuals and glorify violence," protested one of them, Timothy Aveni.

Mark Zuckerberg details seven areas in which his company plans to make progress, not without specifying "that there may not be changes everywhere".

In addition to the content on the use of force, it intends to focus on protecting the integrity of elections.

"I have confidence in the measures we have taken since 2016. (...) But there is a good chance that the confusion and fear will reach an unprecedented level during the November 2020 election, and some will undoubtedly try capitalize on this confusion, "said the CEO.

It also responds to employees who consider that minorities are not sufficiently represented internally.

"We will see if we need to make structural changes to ensure that the different groups have a say," he said.

© 2020 AFP