Zuckerberg accuses Sandberg of masterminding Facebook diversity push
17 January 2025 10:18am GMT
Mark Zuckerberg has blamed his long-time lieutenant Sheryl Sandberg for masterminding Facebook’s diversity projects as the billionaire seeks to repair ties with Donald Trump.
In a meeting with Stephen Miller, one of Mr Trump’s most senior advisers, Mr Zuckerberg claimed Ms Sandberg had been behind Meta’s programmes that “encouraged employees’ self-expression” at work, the New York Times reported.
Ms Sandberg, who until 2022 was the technology giant’s chief operating officer, is a long-standing supporter of the Democrats and last year endorsed Kamala Harris’s campaign.
Mr Zuckerberg’s comments come as the billionaire Facebook founder seeks to build ties with Mr Trump’s incoming White House administration, four years after he suspended the Republican’s account following the Capitol Hill riots on Jan 6 2021.
Last week, Mr Zuckerberg announced a series of sweeping changes to Facebook’s moderation policies, confirming the company would be “getting rid of a number of restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity and gender and are the subject of frequent political discourse”.
Republicans have long accused the tech giant of biased moderation against conservative views.
Mr Zuckerberg also said on a podcast that companies had been “culturally neutered” by diversity initiatives, adding that Facebook would be embracing “masculine energy”.