From 'superstar' to scapegoat: How Sheryl Sandberg became an unlikely target in Zuckerberg's meeting with Trump

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly accused one of his former executives, Sheryl Sandberg, who left the company in 2022, of the “culture” issues at Meta during a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump on November 29.

Zuckerberg blamed former chief operating officer of Meta, Sheryl Sandberg, at a meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, according to a report by The New York Times.

The Meta founder held high-level discussions with top Trump advisers, including Stephen Miller, on immigration and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

Zuckerberg accused Sheryl of driving an inclusivity initiative at Facebook that encouraged employees’ self-expression in the workplace, per the report. Zuckerberg also mentioned that new guidelines and layoffs will be initiated to reset the company.

Meta's DEI policy

Last week, Meta rolled back its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programmes. This was confirmed in an internal memo sent by Meta to its employees (via Axios), reportedly written by vice president of human resources, Janelle Gale.

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

"The Supreme Court of the United States has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI. … The term 'DEI' has also become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others." Gale further added.

Sheryl Sandberg and Meta

Sandberg left Facebook in 2022 and remained a board member at Meta till last year. During her resignation, Zuckerberg dedicated a lengthy post on social media to Sandberg, appreciating her work over the years.

Zuckerberg and Trump

On January 20, Mark Zuckerberg is expected to attend Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony with tech billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Meta also reportedly donated $1 million to the president-elect’s inaugural fund.