Facebook's chief product officer is leaving — perhaps because he doesn't like Zuckerberg's new plans
Facebook's scandals may have taken their toll.
Chris Cox, the company's chief product officer who's been with Facebook for 13 years, announced Thursday he was leaving the company. He was joined by WhatsApp head Chris Daniels — two departures that may signal some displeasure with Mark Zuckerberg's new privacy-focused plans, Wired suggests.
Last week, Zuckerberg unveiled an ambitious yet vague plan to spin Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp into a "privacy-focused communications platform." Cox mentioned the project in his goodbye message to Facebook, and said it needs "leaders who are excited to see the new direction through." As Wired notes, that sounds like Cox wasn't thrilled about it.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Still, Zuckerberg only had good things to say about Cox and Daniels in a public message about their departures. Cox was one of Facebook's first 15 engineers, and was characterized as "the new Mark Zuckerberg" in a recent Wired profile. Daniels had overseen WhatsApp since its founders left the company amid "disagreements" with Zuckerberg last year, The New York Times notes.
Zuckerberg's announcement was seemingly prompted by more than a year of scandals, during which Facebook essentially sold user data and leaked a lot more of it. Cox marks the first top executive to leave after the wave of disasters, though Zuckerberg mentioned in his Thursday message to employees that Cox had thought about leaving since 2016.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
'The House under GOP rule has become a hostile workplace'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal is about more than bad bets
In The Spotlight The firestorm surrounding one of baseball's biggest stars threatens to upend a generational legacy and professional sports at large
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Feds raid Diddy homes in alleged sex trafficking case
Speed Read Homeland Security raided the properties of hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Reddit IPO values social media site at $6.4 billion
Speed Read The company makes its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Housing costs: the root of US economic malaise?
speed read Many voters are troubled by the housing affordability crisis
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Feds cap credit card late fees at $8
speed read The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule to save households an estimated $10 billion a year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Immigration helped the US economy outpace peers
speed read The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.2% last quarter
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
4-day workweek gets boost from UK study
Speed Read Following a six-month trial, the majority of participating British companies are still using the truncated schedule
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US sues to block Kroger-Albertsons merger
Speed Read The Federal Trade Commission sued to block the $24.6 billion merger between the grocery giants
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Nvidia sees historic stock rise on AI chips success
Speed Read U.S. chipmaker Nvidia achieved the biggest one-day increase in value of any company in history
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New York may seize Trump's assets for $450M penalty
Speed Read The former president likely owes $600 million from two civil judgments in New York
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published