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Sandberg: Facebook is not a news company

Photo: Chuck Kennedy / Axios

When asked whether Facebook considers itself a media company, COO Sheryl Sandberg told Axios' Mike Allen, "At our heart we're a tech company... we don't hire journalists."

  • On privacy: "When you share on Facebook, you need to know that nobody is going to steal your data, nobody's going to get your data who shouldn't have it, we're not going to make money in a way you wouldn't feel comfortable with your data." She explained that although they use ads and target ads using the data from people's Facebook pages, they don't sell that data to advertisers.
  • On regulations: When asked if Facebook would still thrive if U.S. regulations matched the now stricter regulations in Europe in regards to privacy, Sandberg said, "In all of these issues our job is not to wait for regulation, but to do the right thing on our platform."
  • On vetting content: Even though Sandberg said she personally disagreed with the views expressed in the ad by Marsha Blackburn, which was taken down by Twitter, she said Facebook would have run it. "When you cut off speech for one person, you cut off speech for other people."