Meta to provide personal security to outgoing COO Sheryl Sandberg till June 2023 citing threats to safety

Meta Platforms Inc has approved personal security services for the former Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, due to "continuing threats to her safety".

Meta has not elaborated on the threats that Sandberg faces. As per Reuters report, the company expects to pay for security services at her residences and during her personal travel from 1 October till 30 June, 2023.

Sandberg, one of the most powerful women in Silicon Valley, a close associate of Meta's Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, said in June she would depart the social media giant after a 14-year stint when she led the company's often-criticized ads-based business model.

Under Sandberg, the company was also buffeted by revelations in 2018 that U.K. consultancy Cambridge Analytica had improperly acquired data on millions of its U.S. users to target election advertising.

The same year, U.N. human rights investigators said the use of Facebook had played a key role in spreading hate speech that fueled violence against the Rohingya community in Myanmar.

Sandberg will no longer be an employee after 30 September but will remain on its board, the Facebook-owner said in a regulatory filing.

Previously, Meta has spent heavily on the security of its top executives. Last year, the company spent $26.8 million for the personal security and private aircraft of Zuckerberg, it revealed in April.

(With inputs from Reuters)