Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Meta, announced her departure from the social media company on Wednesday.
Sandberg's exit comes after Meta, formerly known as Facebook, was embroiled in a number of privacy and misinformation issues. The 14-year Facebook veteran hasn't been without controversy, with accusations that the company's management was slow to respond to Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
"The debate around social media has changed beyond recognition since those early days. To say it hasn't always been easy is an understatement," Sandberg said in a Facebook post announcing her departure. "But it should be hard. The products we make have a huge impact, so we have the responsibility to build them in a way that protects privacy and keeps people safe."
Sandberg will remain on Meta's board of directors, but she wants to step down in the fall.
Meta's chief growth officer, Javier Olivan, will take over as COO, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Facebook. He did, however, emphasize that the firm has no plans to change Sandberg's job in its current structure because she established it in her own way.
In recent months, Meta has focused on developing the metaverse, or virtual environments where individuals may connect, play, and work. As part of this endeavor, it has increased its investment in virtual and augmented reality. However, moderating offensive content such as harassment and hate speech in virtual worlds would most certainly be more difficult than on social media.
Meta has also been struggling with business issues, such as a slowdown in user growth and ad revenue, according to Debra Aho Williamson, a principal analyst at Insider Intelligence. In February, Facebook reported a loss in daily users for the first time in its history, sending its stock down more than 26%.
Sandberg joined Facebook in 2008 and has since helped the company expand its multibillion-dollar advertising business. After the publication of her best-selling book "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead" in 2013, she was hailed as a feminist icon by some.
Sandberg was Google's vice president of worldwide online sales and operations before joining Facebook. She was also the head of staff for former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.
After her husband, Dave Goldberg, the CEO of SurveyMonkey, died unexpectedly from heart difficulties in 2017, she wrote her second book, Option B, about overcoming adversity.
Sandberg said in a Facebook post that it's time for her to write her next chapter after 14 years on Facebook.
