Protest Held At Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Palo Alto Home

PALO ALTO, CA — Protesters gathered over the weekend outside of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's home in Palo Alto to oppose recent practices at the social media platform.

On Sunday, they demanded that Zuckerberg leave Facebook, accusing its founder of putting "astronomical profits before people" and a powerful —yet problematic source — of both election and COVID-19 misinformation.

During the event, protesters parked their cars outside of his house, honked their horns and displayed signs that told the young billionaire to "get the Zuck out."

The protest comes approximately two weeks after ex-Facebook manager, Frances Haugen, testified before Congress, accusing Facebook of failing to make changes to Instagram after internal research showed apparent harm to some teens and being dishonest in its public fight against hate and misinformation.

"One person—especially someone who has such poor judgment—should not have sole power to decide what social media content will reach billions of people. Facebook needs new leadership that prioritizes the safety and wellbeing of its users and the global public. Truth matters," said event organizers.

Haugen’s accusations were supported by tens of thousands of pages of internal research documents she secretly copied before leaving her job in the company’s civic integrity unit. One internal study cited 13.5 percent of teen girls saying Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17% of teen girls saying it makes eating disorders worse.

“Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy,” Haugen said. “The company’s leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer but won’t make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people.”

Meanwhile, in a recent note to Facebook employees, Zuckerberg disputed Haugen’s portrayal of the company as one that puts profit over the well-being of its users, or that pushes divisive content.

"The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical. We make money from ads, and advertisers consistently tell us they don't want their ads next to harmful or angry content," a portion of Zuckerberg's note read. "And I don't know any tech company that sets out to build products that make people angry or depressed. The moral, business and product incentives all point in the opposite direction.

Zuckerberg added that he is proud of the work Facebook does to to keep building the "best social products in the world."

The Associated Press contributed to this article.