 "In meeting with Trump, Meta CEO Zuckerberg blames COO Sheryl Sandberg for DEI hiring policy: Report")
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg blamed former executive Sheryl Sandberg, who resigned two years ago, for “culture-related problems” at the company during a meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump.
According to The New York Times report, in the high-level Mar-a-Lago resort meeting with Trump and his advisers, including Stephen Miller, Zuckerberg alleged that Sandberg was behind the “inclusivity initiative” at Facebook that encouraged self-expression of employees in the workplace.
He also assured Trump that he would not be a hurdle for the new administration, added the report.
The report comes as Meta announced it will be discontinuing its fact-checking programmes as well as its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The string of developments are being seen as a bid by Zuckerberg to align himself with Trump’s conservative views, reported The New York Times.
Once regarded as Zuckerberg’s second-in-command, Sandberg stepped down as Meta’s chief operating officer in 2022 but continued as a board member until resigning from that role the following year.
Interestingly, after her departure in 2022, Zuckerberg described Sandberg as an “amazing person, leader, partner, and friend” in a lengthy post.
He also said her position would remain unfilled, expressing uncertainty about finding someone capable of stepping into her shoes, calling her a “superstar.”
In the meeting, Zuckerberg also underscored that he would “do nothing to obstruct the Trump agenda” and would focus “solely on building tech products”, added the NYT report, citing sources.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsJust days after the Trump meeting, Zuckerberg announced that Meta was rolling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programmes, including those for hiring, training and picking suppliers. The drastic changes will see Meta loosen speech restrictions on topics like immigration, gender, and sexuality.
Zuckerberg is among the tech titans who is likely to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony on January 20 with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
With inputs from agencies
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