Paul Graham backs Mark Zuckerberg's charges against ex-Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg: ‘Common for young, inexperienced…’

Paul Graham defended Mark Zuckerberg after he criticized Sheryl Sandberg's policies at Facebook, explaining that inexperienced founders often rely on experienced executives.

Written By Riya R Alex
Updated18 Jan 2025, 08:14 AM IST
Paul Graham supports Zuckerberg.
Paul Graham supports Zuckerberg.(X)

Paul Graham, a computer scientist and writer, has supported Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg after he accused former COO Sheryl Sandberg of ‘culture’ and ‘inclusivity’ policies at Facebook.

Graham was responding to a post on X that criticised Zuckerberg, claiming he could make his own decisions in the company.

“Come on bruh.... You were the CEO with super voting shares --- own your decisions,” the X user wrote.

While replying to the post, Graham mentioned how new founders have to take the help of ‘C-level’ employees to learn how things work in the system.

Also Read | How Sheryl Sandberg became an unlikely target in Zuckerberg's meeting with Trump

“You don't have to invent sinister explanations for this. It's very common for young, inexperienced founders to take C-level's 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 wrote.

Also Read | Meta going down Twitter’s path won’t end the same way

Sheryl left Facebook in 2022 and remained a board member at Meta till last year.

Mark Zuckerberg's claim

Mark Zuckerberg reportedly accused one of his former executives, Sheryl Sandberg, of the company's ‘culture’ and 'inclusivity' issues during a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump on November 29, according to a report by The New York Times.

The Meta founder alleged that Sheryl was driving an inclusivity initiative at Facebook that encouraged employees’ self-expression in the workplace, the report said. Zuckerberg stated that new guidelines and layoffs will help to reset the company.

Also Read | Meta’s community notes won’t apply to paid ads. Marketers still have questions.

Meta's DEI policy

Meta recently stopped its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program, which was informed in an internal memo sent by Meta's Vice President of Human Resources, Janelle Gale, to its employees.

The reason behind such a policy shift was “the legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing," as per the memo accessed by CNN.

Zuckerberg's meeting with Trump

Zuckerberg met Trump at Mar-a-Lago and held high-level discussions with top Trump advisers, including Stephen Miller, on immigration and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, according to news reports.

 

 

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