A noose was found at the construction site of a Meta/Facebook data center in Eagle Mountain, Utah.
Contractor Mortenson Construction is giving a $100,000 reward for information leading to the identification of the person responsible. But this is not the first time racist iconography has been found at that site - nor the first time a noose has been discovered at a Facebook data center.
Update: The worker responsible has been fired.
In November, employees twice found racist graffiti at the construction site. The second time, workers found "Kill a n***** day 11/29" scrawled on construction toilets.
Mortenson, which had a $50,000 reward for that incident, shut down construction for workforce training. It, and Meta, said that they would implement additional security to ensure the safety and well-being of those on site.
The year before, contractor Turner Construction shut down a Facebook data center project in Ohio due to racist graffiti.
It also shut down an Iowa Facebook site due to a noose being discovered on the anniversary of the end of slavery in the United States.
During the same period, a racist song was played over the radio at a nearby Microsoft data center construction site.
Last October, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, alleging it violated federal civil rights laws by subjecting Black laborers to “a racially hostile work environment” and then fired some of them after they complained about the harassment. The lawsuit focuses on work at a Google data center in Clarksville, Tennessee.
"Meta has zero tolerance for any racist acts," the company said in a statement following the most recent racist act.
"While this is a challenge facing the entire industry, we’re working with our general contractors to implement measures that will help prevent them at any of our construction sites. At the Eagle Mountain site, we are working closely with Mortenson and trade leaders to identify the perpetrator(s) of these acts."
Construction at the site was suspended for a day. The Utah County Sheriff's Office is investigating the incident.
