Facebook will give up to $1 million to as many as five people and hand out a total of $10 million to community leaders who use its services “to bring people closer together.”
The company unveiled its Facebook Community Leadership Program at its Communities Summit event in London this week.
“This program is about finding and supporting great community leaders wherever they are,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.
The company has faced intense scrutiny from critics who say it allowed Russian propagandists and other groups to use its advertising tools to target users with divisive messages, hate speech and other harmful content.
The company wants to reward those who use its platform for good, according to Zuckerberg.
“Our goal is to find people who are using Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger to bring people closer together,” he wrote in the post.
“We’ll pick up to five leaders around the world and give them up to $1 million to fund their ideas for doing even more. We’ll invite 100 leaders to be part of our fellowship program that includes training, mentorship, and up to $50,000 for a specific initiative,” Zuckerberg wrote.
