Sandberg, speaking during the Reuters Next conference, said
she was glad that Facebook had frozen Trump's accounts, which came as tech
giants scrambled to crack down on his baseless claims about fraud in the US
presidential election amid riots in Washington last week.
Hours later, the company banned the phrase "stop the
steal" altogether, citing use of the term to organize events contesting
the outcome of the US presidential election that have a propensity for
violence.
If Trump wanted to appeal the removal of his content, that
could happen through the company's new Oversight Board, she added. Facebook
said Trump could not appeal the actual suspension through the board.
"This shows the president is not above the policies we
have," Sandberg said, speaking with Reuters Breakingviews columnist Gina
Chon.
Facebook executives have long taken a light touch to
policing speech posted by politicians, maintaining that people have a right to
see statements from their leaders.
The company backed down somewhat on that position and
started applying labels to the president's posts after facing a backlash this
summer, including an advertiser boycott, when it declined to act against
Trump's incendiary rhetoric around anti-racism protests throughout the United
States.
It reversed course and banned Trump indefinitely following
last week's riots, which culminated in the storming of the US Capitol.
Facebook's stock closed down 4 percent on Monday, as social
networks' moves against Trump spurred concern among investors over future
regulation. Twitter, which permanently suspended Trump, tumbled over 6 percent
while Alphabet lost 2 percent.
Violent rhetoric on social media platforms including
Facebook had ramped up in the weeks preceding the rallies as groups planned
openly for the gatherings, according to researchers and public postings,
prompting criticism of the companies for failing to take action in advance.
Sandberg acknowledged that Facebook may have missed some of
those posts but said she believed the events were largely organised on other
platforms.
She said the company was keeping an eye on further possible
armed protests being planned for Washington, DC and at all 50 US state capital
cities in the run-up to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20,
which has prompted an FBI warning.
Asked why Facebook had not taken comparable action against
other leaders like Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and President Rodrigo
Duterte in the Philippines, who likewise have been accused of inciting violence
online, Sandberg said the company's policies would apply globally.
'I'm staying'
Sandberg has played a less prominent public role at Facebook
in the past year, even as CEO Mark Zuckerberg has thrown himself into the
public sphere with a series of livestreamed chats and multiple sessions
testifying before Congress.
The two have also faced questions about their future at
Facebook following the mid-year return of Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, who
had left the year prior citing vague differences over the company's direction.
Asked about the future for herself and Zuckerberg at
Facebook, Sandberg said both were staying put in their current roles.
"I'm staying," she said, adding that she and
Zuckerberg "feel we have a real responsibility to fix the systems that
didn't work before to protect our service and to make sure great things can
happen," Sandberg added.
Sandberg also denied reports that she had been sidelined as
Zuckerberg took a more active role in content policy and government relations,
her traditional areas of responsibility.
"People love headlines about corporate drama, and I
think it's fair to say they particularly love headlines about sidelining women.
But I just feel tremendously lucky to have this job because there is so much
good," she said.
Sandberg said regulatory pressure on US tech companies
around antitrust issues was "very real," cautioning similar scrutiny
two decades ago was a "major distraction" for Microsoft and caused it
to miss the next phase of technology development.
"We know that history, and we have to both work on these serious issues, work with the government, work on reforming the rules that govern us - which need to be reformed - and keep innovating," she said. © Reuters