Mark Zuckerberg Defends 'Black Lives Matter' in Memo to Facebook Employees

Mark Zuckerberg poses for photos with his wife Priscilla Chan while attending the Axel Springer Award presentation on Thursday (February 25) in Berlin, Germany.

The 31-year-old Facebook founder was in Barcelona, Spain earlier in the week to deliver a keynote conference at the World Mobile Congress.

Mark sent a private memo to Facebook employees this week after an employee crossed out “black lives matter” on the company’s signature wall and replaced it with “all lives matter.”

“Despite my clear communication at Q&A last week that this was unacceptable, and messages from several other leaders from across the company, this has happened again,” Mark wrote in his memo (via Gizmodo). “I was already very disappointed by this disrespectful behavior before, but after my communication I now consider this malicious as well.”

“There are specific issues affecting the black community in the United States, coming from a history of oppression and racism. ‘Black lives matter’ doesn’t mean other lives don’t — it’s simply asking that the black community also achieves the justice they deserve,” Mark added. “We’ve never had rules around what people can write on our walls. We expect everybody to treat each other with respect.”