Mark Zuckerberg faces local revolt as San Francisco politicians condemn naming hospital after him

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan donated $75m to the hospital in 2015

A group of San Francisco politicians have unanimously voted to condemn its public hospital being named after Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, the latest sign of revolt in the Facebook founder’s own backyard. 

During a virtual council meeting on Thursday, local politicians said they were concerned about the proliferation of harmful health information and other content on Facebook, which they claimed were against San Francisco’s “values”. They said they believed it was wrong for the hospital to bear Mr Zuckerberg’s name. 

The hospital was named after Mr Zuckerberg after he Ms Chan made a $75m donation in 2015, believed at the time to be the largest ever single donation to a hospital in the country. The hospital had been known as the San Francisco General Hospital since it was built in 1872.

The decision to condemn the naming, from a committee of San Francisco supervisors, will be put to a vote of the full board later this month. It will have no legal effect, with the naming of the hospital after Mr Zuckerberg set to last for 50 years under the conditions of the donation. 

Supervisor Gordon Mar, who brought the resolution, said: “This hospital belongs to the people whose health, wellness and privacy that in some cases lives and livelihoods are in peril by the decisions made by the man it is named after. 

Anti-Zuckerberg protesters outside his home in San Francisco last month

Credit: AP

“I condemn that and think the board of supervisors made a mistake five years ago in approving this naming contract.”

Mr Mar pointed to two studies that provided “evidence of Facebook’s harm” regarding misinformation about Covid-19 on its platform. 

Fellow supervisor Matt Haney said that several members of staff at the hospital believed the hospital should not be named after wealthy individuals even if they do donate hefty sums of cash. 

He said: “We are thankful for the gift but it doesn’t mean we should have forever given away advertising rights”. 

Several members of the public, including current and former nurses at the hospital, joined the virtual council meeting on Thursday to discuss the resolution, with all but one requesting the name be changed. 

Several members of the public, including current and former nurses at the hospital, joined the virtual council meeting on Thursday to discuss the resolution.

It comes after a small group of activists this month gathered at a home belonging to Mr Zuckerberg to protest the naming of the hospital, chanting “wake the zuck up” and “It’s the people’s hospital, not his”.  It is not clear whether he currently lives at the property. 

The name of the hospital has long been controversial with staff reported to have begun taping Mr Zuckerberg’s name of the gates of the building back in 2018. 

Priscilla Chan was formerly a paediatrician at the hospital, but now runs the charitable organisation the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. 

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