A Delaware judge has imposed sanctions on former Meta Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sheryl Sandberg for allegedly deleting emails related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The sanctions are part of a shareholder lawsuit filed against Sandberg and former Meta board member Jeff Zients, accusing them of using personal email accounts to discuss Facebook’s privacy practices and subsequently deleting the emails in violation of court orders.
According to a report by TechCrunch, shareholders allege that Sandberg and Zients used personal email accounts to communicate about Facebook’s privacy practices, despite their fiduciary duties and legal obligations. The lawsuit further claims that emails were deleted from these personal accounts even after a court order mandated their preservation. The judge found these allegations credible, highlighting that Sandberg used a personal Gmail account under an alias to discuss the case.
The ruling also cited inconsistencies in Sandberg’s responses to questions from the plaintiffs, suggesting that she selectively deleted emails rather than relying on automatic deletion settings.
As a result, the judge raised the standard of proof for Sandberg’s defence, now requiring “clear and convincing” evidence instead of the usual “preponderance of the evidence.” The court has also granted certain legal expenses to the plaintiffs. A spokesperson for Sandberg has refuted the claims, stating, “All work emails were preserved on Facebook’s servers.”
Facebook’s Privacy Violations and Regulatory Action
The lawsuit is rooted in Facebook’s alleged violations of a 2012 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) order prohibiting the company from collecting and sharing user data without consent. Reports indicate that Facebook shared user data with commercial partners, including Cambridge Analytica, and removed key disclosures from its privacy settings.
Meta faced substantial penalties for these violations, including a $5 billion fine imposed by the FTC in 2019. European regulators have also taken action against the company for its handling of user data.
Sandberg’s Role at Meta and Public Perception
Sheryl Sandberg joined Facebook in 2008 as COO and played a key role in transforming the company into a profitable entity through its advertising business. In 2012, she became the first woman to join Facebook’s board of directors. Before her tenure at Meta, Sandberg served as Vice President of global online sales and operations at Google and worked at the U.S. Treasury Department under Lawrence Summers.
In recent developments, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg reportedly attributed the company’s inclusive policies to Sandberg in a meeting with former Trump advisor Stephen Miller, as reported by The New York Times. The report suggests that Zuckerberg distanced himself from these policies, stating that they were influenced by Sandberg.
Who is Sheryl Sandberg?
Born in 1969 in Washington D.C., Sandberg is an author and philanthropist, known for her books Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead and Option B, co-authored with Nell Scovell and Adam Grant, respectively. She founded LeanIn.Org, an organisation promoting women in leadership roles.
In her personal life, Sandberg has been married twice. Her first marriage to Brian Kraff ended in divorce in 1994. She later married Dave Goldberg in 2004, with whom she had two children. Goldberg passed away in 2015 due to a heart condition. Sandberg was engaged to Tom Bernthal in 2020, and the couple married in 2022.
