(VitalNews.org) – Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth amounts to $13 billion, is being criticized for spending millions on private security for himself while advocating for policies that would defund police departments around the country.
Zuckerberg’s mother corporation Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and their new platform Threads, dished out over $43 million in private security costs since 2020, according to corporate disclosures. According to a New York Post report from February, pretax spending for private security paid for by Meta increased to $14 million from $10 million over the last few years.
Meta justified the expense by stating how important Zuckerberg is to the company and also noted that he’s “requested to only receive $1 in annual salary” with no bonuses, awards, or compensation.
The issue critics have with Zuckerberg’s private security expenses is the fact that one of Zuckerberg’s foundations gives millions of dollars to groups pursuing and advocating for initiatives to defund police departments or even to outright abolish the police entirely.
The foundation gave $3 million in donations to an organization called PolicyLink, which describes itself as an institute focused on “national research and action” to advance “racial and economic equity.” In 2020, after the death of George Floyd, the organization called “community policing,” which means the development of a relationship between police and the communities they serve, as “a false solution.”
PolicyLink also partnered with an organization called DefundPolice.org, which calls for reducing funding or abolishing police departments.
Critics accuse Zuckerberg of hypocrisy for promoting policies that would take away protections from everyday citizens in the form of police officers while he can afford to hire his own round-the-clock private security to protect him.
Other celebrities who advocated for defunding the police have also been criticized for the same reason. They’ve also been called out for typically supporting stricter gun laws that make it more difficult for citizens to defend themselves in the absence of police or private security.
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