Mark Zuckerberg Says He Won’t Step Down As Facebook Chairman

Facebook Chief Executive, Mark Zuckerberg is pushing back against calls for him to step down as chairman and hopes to continue working with his longtime chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg.

Zuckerberg made the comments in a recent interview with CNN where he addressed the controversies pertaining to the social-media giant. He said stepping down as chairman in the near term is “not the plan” after some big shareholders proposed to push him out of that role following a string of management missteps.

According to Facebook’s latest proxy, his share of the voting power among Facebook investors was 59.9%, meaning shareholders can’t force him out, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Zuckerberg called Sandberg an “important partner” who is overseeing Facebook’s efforts to tackle some of the biggest problems the company is facing. “I hope that we work together for decades more to come,” he said.

He and Sandberg have come under fire for Facebook’s slow response to uncovering evidence of Russian manipulation during the U.S. presidential race in 2016 and stopping the spread of misinformation on the platform. They have also faced scrutiny for Facebook’s privacy practices and its role in inflaming violence in countries like Myanmar.