The two most powerful people at Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, are reportedly at odds over differing views on how to handle political content, especially during Donald Trump's administration.
This is revealed from an excerpt from the book 'An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination' written by Cecilia Kang and Sheera Frankel. The book gathers testimonies from current and former Facebook employees at all levels of the business.
In an excerpt from the book published in the New York Times, the two authors claim that the relationship between Zuckerberg and Sandberg is beginning to change. In fact, when in public, they still seem close and professional, even meeting twice a week.
Zuckerberg is said to be more in tune with Sandberg's views than when he first hired Sandberg 13 years ago. Zuckerberg has also often criticized Sandberg's handling of communications regarding foreign interference in the US Election and Cambridge Analytica.
Facebook spokesperson Dani Lever immediately rejected the claims written in the book. Lever said the book's authors created a false narrative based on selected interviews, biased facts and comments from disgruntled employees.
"The rift described by the writer between Mark and Sheryl and the people they work with does not exist," said Lever, as quoted by Cnet, Friday (9/7/2021)
"All of Mark's direct subordinates work closely with Sheryl, as do Sheryl's subordinates with Mark. Sheryl's role in the company has not changed. This quote is a typical attack on women leaders - denying their power, ignoring their competence, and marginalizing them in roles and relationships," he continued.
The book tells how Sandberg initially worked as Zuckerberg's right-hand man to manage political affairs because he had experience in Washington.
But when Donald Trump became US president in 2016, Zuckerberg began to disagree with Sandberg's view that he did not like Trump. Zuckerberg is increasingly making his own political decisions.
A Facebook spokeswoman disputed claims that Sandberg's involvement in corporate policy matters is diminishing. "Mark and Sheryl have spent more time on policy matters - including hiring more senior staff, including Nick Clegg who reports to Sheryl," Lever said.
One of the incidents that strained their relationship was when a manipulated video of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went viral on Facebook. Zuckerberg decided to leave the video on Facebook, but Sandberg argued that the video should be removed for violating disinformation rules.
The book's authors claim this worsened the relationship between Zuckerberg and Sandberg, especially as Sandberg sought to build a good relationship with Pelosi.
This excerpt from the book was published shortly after Trump sued Facebook and Zuckerberg for not accepting that his account was shut down. Trump also sued Twitter and CEO Jack Dorsey, as well as Google and CEO Sundar Pichai.
Trump claimed that by removing his social media accounts from the platform, the three companies violated his First Amendment rights. He also mentioned that many conservative figures were filtered by the three companies.
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