Mark Zuckerberg is not going to step down as Facebook chairman

Mark
Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook.
REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

• Mark Zuckerberg said he has no intention of stepping
  down as Facebook chairman.
• That’s despite fresh calls from investors to split his
  dual role as CEO and chairman after an explosive New York Times
  investigation into Facebook’s crisis management.
• Zuckerberg shifted the focus to other initiatives,
  including creating an independent body to help Facebook make
  decisions about whether controversial content should be
  deleted.

Mark Zuckerberg is ignoring calls for his head.

A blockbuster New York Times report on
Wednesday exposed new management failings at Facebook and a
controversial pact with a PR firm to smear the company’s critics,
which Zuckerberg, and his second-in-command Sheryl Sandberg, said
they knew nothing about.

The Times investigation prompted fresh calls from investors for
Zuckerberg to relinquish his dual role as CEO and chairman, and
appoint an independent director to oversee the board.

“A company with Facebook’s massive reach and influence requires
robust oversight and that can only be achieved through an
independent chair who is empowered to provide critical checks on
company leadership,” said Scott Stringer, the New York City
comptroller.

Read more: Mark Zuckerberg’s spectacular
failure of leadership shows why some Facebook investors are
desperate to fire him

Stringer, who controls Facebook shares worth around $1 billion,
is one of many vocal investors intent on removing Zuckerberg as
chairman. And with each new crisis, they get louder with their
demands.

But in a call with journalists on Thursday, Zuckerberg dug in. “I
don’t think that that specific proposal is the right way to go,”
he said when asked if he would
consider stepping down as chairman.

Facebook has previously said dividing the roles would create
“uncertainty, confusion, and inefficiency.” Although Zuckerberg
did not go that far, it’s clear he still sees it as a bad idea.

Instead, the billionaire shifted the focus to other initiatives
Facebook has launched to “get more independence into our
systems.” This included creating an independent body to help
Facebook make decisions about whether controversial content
should remain on the site or be removed.

Ultimately, he said Facebook is never going to eradicate
mistakes. “We’re never going to get to the point where there are
no errors,” he told reporters. “I’m trying to set up the company
so that way we have our board, and we report on our financial
results and do a call every quarter, but that also we have this
independent oversight that is just focused on the community.”