By cryptoadmin 
On Thursday, The New York Instances printed a prolonged story concerning the rise in energy of Stephen Miller, a longtime loyalist of Donald Trump recognized for his hardline views on immigration. Usually, a narrative like that wouldn’t get a lot consideration within the tech press. However the piece opened with an anecdote about Mark Zuckerberg that instantly raised eyebrows.
The story detailed a current assembly Miller had with Zuckerberg when the Meta CEO traveled to Mar-a-Lago final yr. In accordance with The Instances, Zuckerberg — who would quickly resign Meta’s prior reality checking efforts and ditch company range packages — “blamed his former chief working officer, Sheryl Sandberg, for an inclusivity initiative at Fb that inspired staff’ self-expression within the office.”
That line set off a recent spherical of hypothesis (and a few outrage) in tech circles. Sandberg, who left Meta in 2022 and rose to fame after authoring her ladies within the office manifesto Lean In, was recognized for her as soon as shut partnership with Zuckerberg on the prime of Fb. That Zuckerberg would blame his former prime lieutenant for fostering “inclusivity” at his firm, raised eyebrows even amongst longtime observers of the corporate.
“She all the time knew who Mark Zuckerberg and coated for him,” New York Instances reporter Sheera Frankel, who co-wrote a guide about Fb’s dominance, noticed on Bluesky. “ The query is whether or not she is going to proceed to take action when he so blatantly throws her underneath the (Trump) bus.” Journalist and longtime tech pundit Kara Swisher likewise famous that “of us I talked to tonight from the Mark/Sheryl Fb period are shocked however not stunned by his blaming her.”
I additionally weighed in on my Threads account, sharing a hyperlink to a Enterprise Insider story from February that quoted an interview by which Zuckerberg mentioned that Sandberg had raised him “like a father or mother.” I joked that the remark hadn’t aged properly.
However on Friday, Zuckerberg determined to let me (and I suppose everybody else) know that he and Sandberg are nonetheless cool, in any case. “Sheryl did wonderful work at Meta and can endlessly be a legend within the trade,” he wrote in a reply to my submit. “She constructed one of many biggest companies of all time and taught me a lot of what I do know.”
A couple of minutes later, Sandberg jumped in to helpfully let me know there are not any onerous emotions on her aspect, both. “Thanks, @zuck. I’ll all the time be thankful for the various years we spent constructing a fantastic enterprise collectively – and in your friendship that bought me via a number of the hardest occasions of my life and continues to this present day.”
Zuckerberg responded with a single coronary heart emoji.
I requested Zuckerberg if he felt Sandberg was too targeted on DEI initiatives at Meta, or whether or not she took away from the “masculine vitality” he just lately informed Joe Rogan companies ought to embody. Notably, he has not denied The Instances’ reporting about his feedback relating to Sandberg, although he claimed they’re being misconstrued.
"I answered a query about the place the phrase 'carry your complete self to work' got here from, and now there's a complete bogus narrative saying I blamed Sheryl for a bunch of stuff that I by no means did and by no means will," he mentioned. (Bringing your "complete self" to work is a slogan popularized by Sandberg in Lean In. Related language typically appeared on Meta's careers website when the corporate highlighted range amongst its staff. "Being your genuine self is the muse of who we’re as an organization," Meta wrote on a since-deleted web page of its company web site the place it shared its inner range reviews.)
So, I suppose that settles it. Nothing to see right here, of us. Mark and Sheryl are positively nonetheless pals. They might not work on the identical firm anymore, however they’re nonetheless capable of come collectively to go off a possible PR disaster. What might be extra inspiring than that?
Replace, January 17, 2025, 4PM PT: This submit was up to date to mirror an extra remark from Zuckerberg.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/mark-zuckerberg-and-sheryl-sandberg-want-you-to-know-theyre-still-friends-and-definitely-not-mad-at-each-other-222145203.html?src=rss