Facebook's board backs COO Sheryl Sandberg over her calls to investigate George Soros

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Facebook's board backs COO Sheryl Sandberg over her calls to investigate George Soros

sheryl sandberg facebook coo

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg testifies during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing concerning foreign influence operations' use of social media platforms, on Capitol Hill, September 5, 2018 in Washington, DC.

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  • Facebook's board has come out in support of COO Sheryl Sandberg.
  • Sandberg has been under heavy criticism over her involvement in efforts to investigate George Soros and critics of Facebook.
  • "When a well-known and outspoken investor attacks your company publicly, it is fair and appropriate to do this level of diligence," the board said.

Facebook's board has chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg's back.

In a letter, the Silicon Valley tech giant's board supported Sandberg's controversial request to investigate George Soros and whether the billionaire investor philanthropist had shorted the company's stock after calling the social network a "menace to society."

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"To be clear, Sandberg's question was entirely appropriate given her role as COO," it said in a letter on Wednesday. "When a well-known and outspoken investor attacks your company publicly, it is fair and appropriate to do this level of diligence."

You can read the full letter on CNET here.

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The letter was sent by Facebook's general counsel Colin Stretch to Patrick Gaspard, president of Soros's Open Society Foundations. It comes as Sandberg weathers unprecedented scrutiny and criticism over her support of the Soros attacks, and her broader role in deflecting criticism and crises amid Facebook's mounting scandals - as detailed in a bombshell investigation from The New York Times.

The letter said Sandberg was being truthful when she said she did not know that the social network hired that public-relations firm, Definers, to explore Soros's criticisms of the company. Facebook has been criticized for playing into anti-Semitic tropes, after a public relation firm hired by the company attempted to smear critics by linking them to liberal billionaire George Soros.

We've reached out to Facebook for comment and will update when we hear back.


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