Facebook insists new Workplace tool was for 'preventing bullying,' not suppressing unions

Facebook wants to empower you to make the world more open and connected as you suppress your workers' legal right to form a union. 

The social media giant that seemingly goes out of its way to be awful set a new bar Wednesday, when, according to reporting by the Intercept, it showed off a new Workplace tool designed to prevent certain words from trending on the enterprise-focused platform. And, to make things as clear as possible during the internal meeting, it chose an example word: "unionize."

For the blissfully unaware, Workplace is Facebook's poorly designed answer to Slack. Companies use it to discuss projects, coordinate meetings, and share announcements. It strives to function as a digital office place that, in the middle of the remote-work explosion, is more important than ever. When a lot of employees use Workplace to discuss a specific word, phrase, or topic, it might "trend" à la Facebook's discontinued trending news tab. Should they just so happen to discuss something an employer finds objectionable, however, this new tool would empower their boss to pull the topic from the trending list.  Read more...