However as Fb’s popularity shifted after the 2016 presidential election, so did Sandberg’s. Fb confronted complaint for enabling the unfold of incorrect information and conspiracy theories that posed a risk to democratic establishments. It was once hit through the large Cambridge Analytica privateness scandal in 2018. And extra just lately, the corporate, now referred to as Meta, got here beneath fireplace from whistleblowers and lawmakers for allegedly placing earnings over folks, and ignoring its platforms’ obvious harms for younger customers. Throughout that point, Sandberg and Zuckerberg have been every referred to as to testify sooner than Congress and issued numerous public apologies.
Now, Sandberg is about to step down as COO this autumn after a dizzying 14-year-run, with plans to concentrate on philanthropic efforts whilst last at the corporate’s board. However as she appears to her subsequent act, she leaves in the back of a sophisticated legacy that partially mirrors the legacy of the group itself.
Different trade watchers, then again, wired the damaging affects from Fb that emerged throughout her watch and pointed the finger at her for no longer doing extra to stop them.
“Her selections at Meta made social media platforms much less secure for ladies, folks of colour, or even threatened the American electoral gadget,” Shaunna Thomas, the co-founder of UltraViolet, an advocacy crew for gender fairness, stated in a observation. “Sandberg had the facility to do so for fourteen years, but persistently selected to not.”
Shoshana Zuboff, a professor emerita at Harvard Industry Faculty and writer of a number of books on how generation is impacting society, advised CNN that she believes Sandberg’s paintings to find techniques to monetize customers’ non-public knowledge makes her “liable for the wholesale destruction of privateness.”
Meta, Fb’s dad or mum corporate, declined to remark for this tale past the general public posts from Sandberg and Zuckerberg. In her publish, Sandberg famous how a lot social media problems had modified from the time she joined the corporate.
“The talk round social media has modified past popularity since the ones early days. To mention it hasn’t all the time been simple is an underestimation,” she stated. “But it surely must be laborious. The goods we make have an enormous affect, so we have now the accountability to construct them in some way that protects privateness and helps to keep folks secure.”
“I and the devoted folks of Meta have felt our obligations deeply,” she added. “I do know that the abnormal crew at Meta will proceed to paintings tirelessly to upward thrust to those demanding situations and stay making our corporate and our neighborhood higher.”
The grownup within the room
Sandberg joined Fb after preserving senior roles at Google and the Treasury Division. She was once broadly considered as being the seasoned hand at an organization run through a twenty-something founder and exploding in enlargement.
“She got here in within the generation the place folks have been like, ‘Those founders want adults in a few of these firms,’ and she or he were given a ton of consideration for it,” former Fb worker Katie Harbath, who now’s CEO of the consulting company Anchor Alternate, advised CNN Industry. Harbath added that, “in many ways, Mark and Sheryl have been co-CEOs.”
Sandberg presided over the corporate because it grew from more or less $150 million in annual income to $117.9 billion final yr. She additionally oversaw public coverage, prison and human sources as the corporate’s headcount grew from 500 staff to just about 78,000. In her function, she become an envoy for the corporate and once in a while met with global leaders rather than Zuckerberg.
Underneath Sandberg’s management, Meta staff performed anti-bias trainings and she or he is credited for serving to institute one of the coveted advantages staff nonetheless revel in — similar to make stronger for staff who need to freeze eggs and expanded bereavement go away, following the surprising loss of life of her husband. (Sandberg spoke candidly in public about serving to folks speak about grief, even at paintings.) She is also noticed as a big pressure in the back of Fb’s determination to create a Civil Rights crew.
Sandberg’s function publicly representing the corporate additionally seemed to shift in later years. To lend a hand set up the general public coverage a part of Fb’s trade, the corporate employed Nick Clegg as head of worldwide affairs in 2018. Whilst the previous UK deputy high minister reported to Sandberg, it additionally intended relieving Sandberg of a portion of her portfolio and decreasing her profile — which, in step with a 2021 record through the New York Instances, partially highlighted a rift between Sandberg and Zuckerberg that had emerged throughout the Trump management and best widened through the years. (Fb disputed the Instances’ characterization in their dating.)
On the identical time, Sandberg arguably remained constrained in talking out publicly on sure problems because of her management function on the corporate. Harbath stated Sandberg all the time had “reasons she sought after to paintings on, however being COO at Meta, there is all the time a prohibit to how outspoken you have to be.”
That might trade as soon as she leaves.
Sandberg’s subsequent act
In her announcement this week, Sandberg stated she is “no longer totally positive what the long run will carry.” She has plans to get married this summer season and wrote that she hopes to center of attention “extra on my basis and philanthropic paintings, which is extra essential to me than ever given how essential this second is for ladies.”
Rachel Thomas, co-founder and CEO of Sandberg’s girls’s advocacy basis LeanIn.org, advised CNN that she is “overjoyed” Sandberg will now be capable of lend a hand extra within the paintings of the root.
“Sheryl introduced new power to the dialog about girls’s management, and she or he based LeanIn.Org to do her section to advance girls within the place of business,” Thomas stated in an emailed observation. “With extra of Sheryl’s insights and effort, we will be capable of do extra, extra briefly, and that’s the reason thrilling.”
Renewing her center of attention on girls’s advocacy and empowerment paintings, whilst no longer being the general public face of a debatable tech large, may probably lend a hand bolster one of the sure parts of her legacy. But it surely is still noticed whether or not Sandberg will to find her method to the CEO function at any other massive tech or media corporate as she as soon as gave the impression destined to do.
CNN’s Brian Fung contributed to this record.
