A non-disparagement clause is so fucking bonkers. I read these things and would never sign something like that. It’s a blatant corporate attack on your freedom of speech and absolutely insulting as a human. You pay me. You do not control me!
But ethics can become a lot more flexible when someone's dangling a few million in stock options in front of your face.
You can still talk about literally anything else if you sign a non-disparagement clause or an NDA.
Why does this matter? It reminds me of the joke about how in America we value free speech so much that we can badmouth our leaders in public, but so what, in Soviet Russia they can badmouth the American leaders in public too. The question of how free your speech is, is determined by what you can't say, or can't get away with saying, without paying some hefty consequence (a punch, a fine, losing your job, imprisonment, forfeiting RSUs...).
That's why these things come with payment -- or for NDAs, a threat to make you pay them.
https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1105961668029358086
> @tedlieu I am authorized to make the following statement: If you feel silenced by an NDA and need help from a Congressional committee, please contact, or have your attorney contact, the House Judiciary Committee.
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For topics of societal and national concern, House subpoenas could be a good way to force disclosure — of things companies are trying to hide, via paying off employees in exchange for NDAs.
what's probably more likely is that his net worth is highly correlated with facebook's, and disparagement could materially affect that.
If I had such influence I'd certainly be hesitant to just go all guns blazing, and I'm someone that strongly believes social media (primarily facebook) is a serious threat to civilized society.
Ya, everyone does until they look at their bank account.