Muslim Advocates: Sheryl Sandberg Leaves a Legacy of Hate

Sandberg Must Also Step Down From Board of Meta/Facebook

Washington D.C. — Today, Meta/Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg announced that she will be stepping down from her role while continuing to serve on the company’s board of directors. Muslim Advocates has met with and advocated directly to Sandberg for many years, each time urging her to do something meaningful to stop the plague of anti-Muslim bigotry and hate-fueled threats that continue to thrive on the platform. 

The following is a statement from Muslim Advocates Senior Policy Counsel Sumayyah Waheed:

“Sheryl Sandberg’s legacy is bending Facebook’s rules to excuse then-candidate Trump as he called for a ban on all Muslims. Her legacy is the livestream of the Christchurch mosque massacre, which went viral on the platform. Her legacy is the white nationalist Buffalo shooter’s footage going viral on Facebook right now. Her legacy is the mob violence that Facebook has enabled worldwide against Muslims and many other marginalized people.

We wish Sandberg the best with her future endeavors and hope that she puts in the hard, painful work of grappling with and atoning for the hate, threats, violence and even genocide that Facebook enabled under her watch. We also urge her to step down from Meta’s board. In her role as COO of Facebook/Meta, she has proven that at best she was incapable of acting as a check on Mark Zuckerberg, and at worst was actively encouraging Facebook to sacrifice the safety of its users in the name of growth and profit. We expect no different from her as a member of the board going forward.”

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Muslim Advocates is a national civil rights organization working in the courts, in the halls of power and in communities to halt bigotry in its tracks. We ensure that American Muslims have a seat at the table with expert representation so that all Americans may live free from hate and discrimination.