Mark Zuckerberg blamed Sheryl Sandberg for ‘inclusivity initiative’

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly criticized his former lieutenant Sheryl Sandberg during her visit to Mar-a-Lago, blaming her for implementing controversial DEI initiatives at Facebook that “encouraged employee expression on the workplace”.

Zuckerberg, who has been criticized for his complicity with the new administration, made the comment during a meeting with advisers to President-elect Donald Trump at his retreat in Florida shortly after the Republican’s historic election victory in November, according to the New York Times.

The November 27 discussions – which included Stephen Miller, who will take over as White House deputy chief of staff – covered a range of hot topics such as the administration’s expected crackdown on immigration and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. , the Times reported.

Miller told Zuckerberg that the billionaire tycoon had “an opportunity to help reform America, but it would be on Trump’s terms,” ​​according to the Times.

The 40-year-old tech mogul was “accommodating” and said he and his top executives at Meta “would not do anything to hinder Trump’s agenda,” people familiar with the meeting told the Times.

Zuckerberg reportedly threw Sandberg under the bus for pushing the “inclusivity initiative” and said Meta would abandon its DEI policies.

“(Zuckerberg) said new guidelines and a round of layoffs amounted to a reset and that more changes were coming,” the Times reported, citing a person with knowledge of the meeting.

Meta, Zuckerberg insisted, would focus “only on building technology products,” the Times reported.

After the meeting, Zuckerberg sent his top aides to Mar-a-Lago to brief Trump transition officials about the planned changes at Meta, according to the Times report.

Zuckerberg, who donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, has undergone a complete Meta transformation in recent weeks following his meeting with Miller.

It laid off about 5% of its workforce, ended third-party fact-checking and censorship programs, and eliminated DEI initiatives.

Meta also named new board members, including pro-Trump UFC president Dana White, Stellantis chairman John Elkann, and former Microsoft executive Charlie Songhurst.

The Post sought comment from Meta, the Trump transition team and Sandberg.

Sandberg, 54, was Meta’s COO for 14 years, leading the development of advertising giant Facebook which accounts for the vast majority of Meta’s revenue.

She shockingly resigned in 2022. At the time, she said she wanted to devote more energy to philanthropy, women’s rights advocacy and personal projects.

But reports suggest his departure resulted from increased regulatory scrutiny of Meta’s business practices as well as internal tensions over content moderation, political advertising and corporate culture changes.

Although she has not publicly linked her departure to these challenges, her influence within the company has reportedly diminished as Zuckerberg shifted Meta’s focus toward the metaverse and cost-cutting measures.

A Treasury Department official during the Clinton administration, Sandberg wrote the 2013 book “Lean in,” which encourages women to be more aggressive as they climb the corporate ladder.

Before Zuckerberg hired him to help run Facebook, Sandberg helped develop Google’s advertising program while working for the search engine.