Facebook, Google roll out welcome mat to Ahmed Mohamed

Jessica Guynn | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Muslim teen cuffed over clock gets White House invite Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old Texas high school student who was arrested over a clock mistaken for bomb, spoke out after police dropped the charges against him and thanked his supporters, including President Barack Obama.

SAN FRANCISCO — Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old Muslim student who was detained after he brought a homemade clock that a teacher mistook for a bomb to his Texas high school, is receiving an outpouring of support from Silicon Valley, including an invitation to visit Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook.

Facebook's chief executive and founder was among the powerful voices speaking out for Mohamed on Wednesday. Zuckerberg publicly defended and praised Mohamed in a post on his Facebook page.

"Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. The future belongs to people like Ahmed," Zuckerberg wrote. "Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I'd love to meet you."

Mohamed was released after being handcuffed and led out of school. Police say no charges will be brought against him.

Mohamed's case sparked widespread outrage that was especially keenly felt in Silicon Valley where inventiveness, initiative and ingenuity are prized above all else. Silicon Valley is also wrestling with efforts to make the culture of its major companies more diverse and more inclusive.

Google invited Mohamed to take part in its science fair, urging him: "Bring your clock!"

Twitter even offered Mohamed an internship.

Hi @IStandWithAhmed, we 💙 building things at @twitter too. Would you consider interning with us? We'd love it — DM us! #IStandWithAhmed — Twitter (@twitter) September 16, 2015

Foursquare told Mohamed to "never stop inventing the future."

#IStandWithAhmed because we love to make things too. Never stop inventing the future. pic.twitter.com/n1ergHSTg8 — Foursquare (@foursquare) September 16, 2015

CEO Carl Bass invited Mohamed to hang out at Autodesk "and we'll make something new together."

Ahmed, don’t let this stop your creativity. Come hang out at Autodesk and we’ll make something new together. #IStandWithAhmed — Carl Bass (@carlbass) September 16, 2015

Hey Ahmed- we're saving a seat for you at this weekend's Google Science Fair...want to come? Bring your clock! #IStandwithAhmed — Google Science Fair (@googlescifair) September 16, 2015

And Box founder and chief executive Aaron Levie made a case for Mohamed visiting his publicly traded cloud storage and collaboration company.

"Ahmed, I know you've been invited to the White House and Facebook. But, we both know you're enterprise software guy at heart. Come by Box!" Levie said in a tweet.