Facebook's board says it pushed Zuckerberg and Sandberg to respond to Russian interference faster and calls NYT report “grossly unfair”
The Spreading Gloom Over the Technology Sector Brian Deagon / Investor's Business Daily : Facebook Stock Hits 21-Month Low After New York Times Article Blowup Hannah Kuchler / Financial Times : Facebook shares fall as Sheryl Sandberg defends position New York Times : How to Find Out What Facebook Knew CBS Boston : Keller @ Large: Does Sheryl Sandberg Practice What She Preaches? Tweets: Rat King / @mikeisaac : BREAK: Facebook board of directors issues statement in response to @nytimes story http://twitter.com/... Shira Ovide / @shiraovide : I don't understand Facebook. Instead of doing so much half-baked damage control after negative articles like NYT, why not engage during the story process? Same issue with Cambridge Analytica, trending topics etc. http://www.bloomberg.com/... Shaun King / @shaunking : Facebook says it has removed 2.8 BILLION (with a B) fake accounts in the past 12 months alone. This is a crisis. This is the root of fake news, harassment, online bullying and so much more. That's 2,800,000,000 FAKE accounts. Staggering. http://www.engadget.com/... Anand Giridharadas / @anandwrites : Text me when he and Sheryl resign bye http://twitter.com/... @dhh : What's the opposite of credible deniability? Whatever it is, Zuckerberg has it. What a joke. #DeleteFacebook http://www.wired.com/... http://twitter.com/... Will Oremus / @willoremus : As you read the statements pouring in from Facebook executives, PR officials, former employees, and board, recall the scene from the @frontlinepbs documentary where Facebook reps gave the exact same canned responses, one after the next.... http://twitter.com/... Vivek Wadhwa / @wadhwa : Facebook has run out of apologies. Sounds like a broken record. http://twitter.com/... Jessica Guynn / @jguynn : Mark Zuckerberg is vaguely denying allegations in the story and moves quickly to stressing solutions so people will stop talking about the problems. This is the Facebook playbook. Is the company misreading the room this time? Matt Stoller / @matthewstoller : “The reality of running a company of more than 10,000 people is that you're not going to know everything that's going on,” said Zuckerberg. It's almost like there's a... Curse of Bigness. @superwuster http://twitter.com/... Sheera Frenkel / @sheeraf : Note our story did not say any executive stopped the security team from investigating, it says the initial investigation was done without their knowledge and that afterwards they tried to obfuscate the details. http://twitter.com/... Will Oremus / @willoremus : I'm sure this was a snap decision on Zuckerberg's part, and not at all staged to make it look like he's the good guy pushing for transparency https://twitter.com/... Jessica Guynn / @jguynn : Facebook board: Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg are doing great.Mark Zuckerberg: I have no idea what's happening inside my own company and neither does Sheryl. Casey Newton / @caseynewton : My understanding is that Facebook has had as many as three crisis comms firms working for it since 2016. Seems like the kind of work that would be generating regular reports for the CEO/COO. Otherwise why hire them? Kurt Wagner / @kurtwagner8 : I *believe* Zuckerberg just said Sheryl Sandberg also didn't know about FB's relationship with Definers until yesterday. He also defended her, said she's doing “great work” for FB. “We're making a lot of progress and a lot of that is because of the work that she is doing.” Elizabeth Spiers / @espiers : The posturing here is pretty remarkable considering that this type of nihilistic break-things-and-worry-about-the- damage-later firm is normal in Silicon Valley, and not the type of thing many people who work in politics want to be associated with. https://twitter.com/... Rat King / @mikeisaac : Zuckerberg providing some cover for Sandberg. “Overall sheryl is doing great work for the company. she “will continue to be” sounds like Sandberg isn't going anywhere. Jessica Guynn / @jguynn : The buck stops with Mark Zuckerberg, true. But no excuse for Sheryl Sandberg not being on this call if Facebook has found this new religion called transparency. Jessica Guynn / @jguynn : So, who did know on your team about Definers?Zuckerberg: “I think someone on our comms team must have hired them."Comms team, meet the bus that just ran you over. Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : Board statement repeats the line from Facebook and @alexstamos this morning that execs never directed Stamos' team not to investigate. That is not what the NYT story says. NYT story says Sandberg was upset Stamos disclosed his findings to the board. https://twitter.com/... John Herrman / @jwherrman : there are some words that scream like sirens when they show up in corporate communications. “unfair” is one of them! https://twitter.com/... Ian Sherr / @iansherr : Next question: Board changes? Maybe changing board chairmanship? (Like at Tesla, cough cough) Zuck: There are a lot of issues we were behind on. And critique of the company is fair. (BUT BOARD SAYS IT'S UNFAIR — AREN'T YOU ON THE BOARD? WHAT'S REAL ANYMORE???) Will Oremus / @willoremus : Reporter (@dseetharaman): Have you actually fired anybody over the missteps that have been made over the last two years? Zuckerberg reframes the question as being about “personnel changes,” cites the company's hiring of Nick Clegg. Seth Fiegerman / @sfiegerman : Zuckerberg balks at suggestion he step down as chairman of Facebook's board. “I don't particularly think that that specific proposal is the right way to go.” Jessica Guynn / @jguynn : Mark Zuckerberg: We have considered taking the service down when we were worried about a privacy or security issue. But he does not address Myanmar. Zeynep Tufekci / @zeynep : The apology tour is no longer a viable strategy for Facebook. http://twitter.com/... Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : Zuckerberg said he learned that Facebook was working with Definers from the NYT story. Uhhh Walt Mossberg / @waltmossberg : Hmmm...it's interesting that the Facebook board statement has no names attached to it and that the word “unanimous” is absent. Sounds like something management wrote and which passed by a split phone or email vote. Just a guess. http://twitter.com/... Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : Facebook's board stands behind Mark and Sheryl:"As a board we did indeed push them to move faster. But to suggest that they knew about Russian interference and either tried to ignore it or prevent investigations into what had happened is grossly unfair." http://twitter.com/... See also Mediagazer