Facebook CEO says he hopes to work with Sandberg for 'decades'

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg has come under fire for her handling of company disclosures about Russia’s election influence. CEO Mark Zuckerberg came to her defence on Tuesday.

"Sheryl is a really important part of this company," Zuckerberg said, in an interview with CNN. "I hope we work together for decades more to come."

The New York Times reported last week that Sandberg sought to prevent the public from learning more about Russia’s propaganda campaign on the social network ahead of the 2016 election.

Even when the public was eventually told about misinformation spreading through fake Facebook accounts, it took many more months before the company directly linked that activity to Russia.

Zuckerberg said the decision wasn’t about preventing the public from knowing more. It was "a really big deal" to accuse a nation of such activity, so he wanted to be sure of the facts before announcing the details, the CEO explained.

* Sign up to Fin24's top news in your inbox: SUBSCRIBE TO FIN24 NEWSLETTER