“This digital revolution really kind of has the world in its grip. And in that grip, you can see the amount of mistrust and misinformation that is happening,” Benioff told CNN.
“Look at how it is affecting the world. You can talk about the political process. You can talk about climate. You can talk about the pandemic,” Benioff said. “In each and every major topic, it gets connected back to the mistrust that is happening and especially the amount of it being seeded by the social networks. It must stop now.”
‘Level of deceit’
“Some of these social media companies, especially Facebook, you can see that they don’t really care that their platform is filled with all of this disinformation,” Benioff said.
The tech billionaire called for Congress to crack down on Facebook’s disinformation problem.
“I own Time and I am held accountable for what is produced on my platform,” Benioff said, adding that CNN and other media outlets are also held accountable. “In regards to Facebook, they are not held accountable. So they do not have an incentive from the government. That has to change.”
Benioff urged Congress to review existing laws to try to stop the “level of deceit” happening on social networks.
Facebook did not respond to requests for comment on Benioff’s criticism.
“At the heart of this series is an allegation that is just plain false: that Facebook conducts research and then systematically and willfully ignores it if the findings are inconvenient for the company,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs, wrote in the post. “This impugns the motives and hard work of thousands of researchers, policy experts and engineers at Facebook who strive to improve the quality of our products, and to understand their wider (positive and negative) impact.”
After Texas abortion law, Benioff offers to move unhappy workers
“We have this happening on a regular basis,” Benioff said. “We have a governor or president or some ministry of some country that makes some kind of discriminatory statement that upsets our employees and our message to our employees is very simple: If you don’t like it, you can move. And we’ll move you.”
Asked if the Texas abortion law gives him pause about doing business or expanding in the state, Benioff suggested Salesforce isn’t taking a stand on the law itself and added that employees will have different views on these issues.
“That isn’t what this is about. What this is about is telling our employees that we have their back, that if they want to move and they’re unhappy that we’ll move them,” Benioff said, adding that if they want to stay “that’s also great.” He said, “Our job is to make sure that they have the freedom, and also the liberty, to do what they want to do.”
Salesforce is based in San Francisco, but the company also has an office in Austin.
“I’m a fourth generation San Franciscan. We are the home of gay rights and freedom…Of course we’re going to act like this,” Benioff said. “If you don’t like it, we’re going to be there for you.”
‘We’re in a climate emergency’
“We’re in a climate emergency,” Benioff said when asked about his company’s support.
Salesforce also announced this week it is a net zero company across its value chain and now relies on renewable energy for 100% of its operations.
Asked if he would quit the Business Roundtable, Benioff said the debate isn’t about the Business Roundtable and stressed the importance of cutting carbon emissions.
“All of us need to become net zero. And that needs to happen right now,” he said.
The tax hike debate
“We, of course, just pay the tax bill that we’re given,” Benioff said in response to Biden’s remarks. “And in many cases, we fought for higher taxes.”
Asked if he supports efforts by Democrats to raise the corporate tax rate to 26.5%, Benioff said stressed that tax reform must not put US companies at a disadvantage on the global stage.
“If they’re going to raise the corporate tax rate, then just make sure you keep American companies competitive,” Benioff said. “That’s the single most important thing today.”
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