UPDATE: Napster founder Sean Parker, the first president of Facebook, has kicked in $100,000 to back marijuana legalization in California, according to Sasha Horwitz, a spokesperson for Proposition 19. Parker's contribution follows a $50,000 donation from cofounder Dustin Moskovitz. While Facebook's cofounders are backing the initiative, Facebook the company is blocking ads on behalf the campaign, arguing that the image of a pot leaf violates its advertising terms.
Facebook has recently blocked ads supporting the legalization of marijuana, but its cofounder Dustin Moskovitz has contributed $50,000 to the organization leading the effort in California on behalf of proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana.
The contribution from Moskovitz, who listed his occupation simply as "cofounder," highlights the bizarre position Facebook has put itself in by blocking speech on behalf of a political position backed by many of its users and at least one of its founders. Moskovitz is still a part owner of Facebook but has largely ceded operation authority. The donation was first reported by the East Bay Express.
"We wouldn't comment on what an employee of Facebook -- past or present -- does with his or her own checkbook," said Andrew Noyes, a Facebook spokesman, adding that the company has only banned pot ads that have an image of a pot leaf. (Other Facebook users, such as the Libertarian Party, have been told that any pro-legalization ads run counter to the company's policies.)
Michael Whitney, a spokesman for Just Say Now, which had ads removed by Facebook, applauded Moskovitz's donation, but pushed Facebook to follow his lead. "It's nice that a Facebook co-founder is donating to Yes on 19's campaign, but Facebook itself is still afraid of a pot leaf," he said. "The social networking site is censoring political speech from people who want to pass Prop 19 and legalize marijuana. Facebook should drop its Reefer Madness hysteria and catch up to where its users - and even its co-founder - are, and stop censoring legalization ads."
The censorship puts Facebook, which migrated from Harvard's campus, out of step with Silicon Valley culture. The computer science field has long had a complementary relationship with psychedelic drugs and a broad acceptance of marijuana. In the recently released movie "The Social Network," the early days of Facebook's California life are depicted as one long party, complete with a six-foot bong that interns needed to stand on a couch in order to use.
Indeed, psychedelic drugs have influenced some of America's foremost computer scientists. The history of this connection is well documented in a number of books, the best probably being What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer, by New York Times technology reporter John Markoff..More
Source huffingtonpost
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