Chennai: Woes are back for Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg as two top officials of the firm have reportedly left the organisation following disagreements with the co-founder of the social media platform about its future direction.
Accoding to reports, one deputy – regarded as the company’s No. 3, and the other the head of its WhatsApp messaging service, are leaving after disagreements.
The differences stemmed from Zuckerberg’s asserting control over his company and its apps — Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger — by rolling out a plan to integrate the services into a single privacy-focused platform, said reports.
Executives at Facebook who had run the various services were concerned that knitting together the apps would take a toll on the popularity and growth of their individual products, reports said and added that with Zuckerberg exerting more control, the executives were also fearful of losing autonomy and power.
The change is a substantial shift for Facebook, which has traditionally encouraged people to publicly share posts, videos and photos.
Facebook’s chief product officer and a member of Zuckerberg’s inner circle, Chris Cox. The other executive who is exiting is Chris Daniels, 43, who runs WhatsApp.
“As Mark has outlined, we are turning a new page in our product direction,” wrote Cox recently in a public post. “This will be a big project and we will need leaders who are excited to see the new direction through.”
“Embarking on this new vision represents the start of a new chapter for us,” Zuckerberg said in a note to staff recently. “While it is sad to lose such great people, this also creates opportunities for more great leaders who are energized about the path ahead to take on new and bigger roles.”
Facebook is undergoing a transition as it tries to recover from two years of scandals over data privacy and disinformation. Those issues have 
buffeted the Silicon Valley giant, causing internal turmoil as its leaders have tried to find a way to adjust.
Zuckerberg has made several attempts to rid Facebook of toxic content, false news and other problems, but with limited success.
Reports also state that inside Facebook, frustration over Zuckerberg’s planned changes have been mounting for months. Combining Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger will be a companywide effort that will take years of infrastructure work and deep changes to some of its products, it said.
Zuckerberg has promoted others to take the place of those who have left. Adam Mosseri, a longtime Facebook employee, was promoted to head of Instagram last year. Zuckerberg said Will Cathcart, another Facebook employee, would run WhatsApp, and Fidji Simo would lead Facebook’s main app.
| Those who left |
| Last year, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the co-founders of Instagram, left the company after clashing with Zuckerberg over the future of the photo-sharing network. Jan Koum and Brian Acton, the co-founders of WhatsApp, also left after similar disagreements with Zuckerberg. Other executives, including Facebook’s head of communications and policy and its security chief, have also departed. |