Facebook Fired Oculus Co-Founder Palmer Luckey for Supporting Trump

Washington: Facebook’s firing of Oculus VR co-founder Palmer Luckey last year was reportedly on the grounds of him supporting US President Donald Trump, a media report has said. Luckey was asked to leave after he donated $10,000 to an anti-Hillary Clinton group during the 2016 US presidential elections. “His donation sparked a backlash from his colleagues. Six months later, he was out,” the report added. Facebook had acquired Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion. Luckey never revealed why he left Facebook. The WSJ spoke with people familiar with the matter, who said Luckey’s support for Trump upset several at Facebook, as well as many in the Silicon Valley.

While testifying before Congress about data privacy earlier in 2018 though, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied Luckey’s departure had anything to do with politics. In October, Luckey said his exit from Facebook was not of his own choosing. Luckey left Facebook amid controversy surrounding his political contributions and financial support of far-right groups. Another Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe also announced to leave the social networking giant in October. (IANS)

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