Mark Zuckerberg is creating a "dangerous precedent" by allowing a Donald Trump post to remain on Facebook, warned a group of civil rights leaders.
Their statement followed a video call with the founder of the social media giant.
The post by the President of the United States, about protests spread after George Floyd's death, was hidden from Twitter last week to "glorify violence".
The Facebook staff also expressed their anger towards their employer, with some staging a "virtual strike".
In the post, the president wrote that he would "send the National Guard", and warned that "when looting begins, filming begins."
Trump shared the same message on Twitter, where he was hiding behind a warning label, causing a growing scale between Twitter and the White House.
Mr. Zuckerberg had previously defended his decision to leave the same Facebook post, saying he disagreed with Mr. Trump's words, but that people "should be able to see it for themselves."
After meeting with Mr. Zuckerberg, three civil rights leaders responded that he was wrong.
- Facebook staff anger over Trump's post
- Trump threatens to send army to end the unrest
In a statement, they said that the Facebook chief "has not demonstrated understanding of historical or modern voter repression and refuses to recognize how Facebook is facilitating Trump's request for violence against protesters."
The joint statement, released on Monday evening, was signed by Vanita Gupta, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Sherrilyn Ifill, adviser-adviser to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; and Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change. It was published online by Axios.
A Facebook spokesman said: "We are grateful that the leaders of the civil rights community took the time to share sincere and honest feedback with Mark and Sheryl [Sandberg, Facebook's COO].
"It's an important time to listen and we can't wait to continue these conversations."
Online therapy company TalkSpace has stopped talking about a partnership deal with the social media giant about its decision to leave office.
"We will not support a platform that incites violence, racism and lies," tweeted CEO Oren Frank.
The deal would have been worth "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to TalkSpace, Frank told CNBC.
With leaked audio, Zuckerberg said his initial reaction to Trump's post was "disgust," reports The Verge.
"That's not how I think we want our leaders to show up at this time," he says.
