American computer scientist and writer Paul Graham defended Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday after he accused his former COO Sheryl Sandberg of being responsible for the current “culture” and “inclusivity initiative” at Facebook.
Graham responded to an investor’s post about Zuckerberg on social media platform X, which said, “Come on bruh…. You were the CEO with super voting shares — own your decisions.”
Commenting on the investor’s post, Graham said that there was no need to invent sinister explanations for the situation.
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He added that it was very common for young, inexperienced founders to rely on the advice of C-level executives about how things should be done in what had now become a large company, especially when those executives, like Sandberg, were as convincing as she probably was.
“You don’t have to invent sinister explanations for this. It’s very common for young, inexperienced founders to take C-level execs’ word for how things have to be done in what has now become a big company. Especially when they’re as convincing as she probably was,” Graham said.
Zuckerberg blames Sandberg
In a meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump’s advisor Stephen Miller, Mark Zuckerberg accused former COO Sheryl Sandberg of being responsible for the current “culture” at Facebook, as reported by the New York Times. Zuckerberg was told he had the opportunity to “rebuild America” but on the “terms of Trump.”
According to the report, Zuckerberg blamed Sandberg for Facebook’s inclusivity initiative, which encouraged employees to embrace self-expression in the workplace. The Meta CEO reportedly will not stand against Trump’s crackdown on DEI culture—diversity, equity, and inclusion. He also said that he would now concentrate exclusively on developing tech products, according to the report.
“Zuckerberg blamed his former chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, for an inclusivity initiative at Facebook that encouraged employees’ self-expression in the workplace,” the report said, citing a person with knowledge of the meeting.
Sandberg resigned from the company in 2022, and at that time, Zuckerberg praised her work. “Sheryl architected our ads business, hired great people, forged our management culture, and taught me how to run a company. She deserves the credit for so much of what Meta is today,” he wrote at that time.
The report comes after Meta CEO announced the abolition of its DEI policy, supporting Trump’s crackdown on DEI culture. Zuckerberg reportedly said new guidelines and layoffs would be implemented to “reset the company.” The report also asserts that “Zuckerberg’s political lieutenants previewed the changes” to Miller in a private briefing prior to making them official on January 10.
