Facebook Inc.’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, notified that the world’s largest social network has no plans to lift the blockade of U.S. President Donald Trump’s accounts.
Sandberg, who spoke during the Reuters Next conference, said she was glad Facebook had taken the action, when tech giants were striving to take action against Trump’s unfounded claims about a fraud in the presidential election and following riots in Washington last week.
If Trump wants to appeal the decision, he can do so through the company’s new Supervisory Board, he added.
Violent rhetoric on social media platforms, including Facebook, soared in recent weeks when groups planned demonstrations, according to researchers and public posts.
Companies have faced questions about why they did not take more aggressive action before the riots that led to the take-off of the U.S. Capitol.
To Reuters Breakingviews columnist Gina Chon’s question about her future and that of CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sandberg said they will both remain on Facebook.
“I stay,” she said, adding that she and Zuckerberg “feel that we have a real responsibility to fix systems that didn’t work before to protect our service and make sure great things can happen.”
Sandberg also denied reports that he had been sided with when Zuckerberg took a more active role in content policy and government relations, his traditional areas of responsibility.
“People love the news about corporate drama, and I think it’s fair to say that they particularly like the headlines about the marginalization of women. But I feel tremendously lucky to have this job because there are so many good things,” she said.
