<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="It’s all water under the bridge, apparently: Chris Cox is coming back to Facebook as chief product officer, after his sudden departure in March 2019 over an apparent dispute with his boss, CEO Mark Zuckerberg.” data-reactid=”20″>It’s all water under the bridge, apparently: Chris Cox is coming back to Facebook as chief product officer, after his sudden departure in March 2019 over an apparent dispute with his boss, CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Cox, in announcing his return to Facebook in a post Thursday on the social network, said “it’s a different world now.”
“Facebook and our products have never been more relevant to our future,” Cox wrote. “It’s the place I know best, it’s a place I’ve helped to build, and it’s the best place for me to roll up my sleeves and dig in to help.”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Cox exited last year after Zuckerberg outlined a new privacy vision for Facebook, setting plans for private communications on the company’s apps to be fully encrypted. Facebook also intends to have user content and messages to self-destruct after a certain period of time. That evidently didn’t sit well with Cox, who wrote at the time that the privacy initiative is “a big project and we will need leaders who are excited to see the new direction through.”” data-reactid=”23″>Cox exited last year after Zuckerberg outlined a new privacy vision for Facebook, setting plans for private communications on the company’s apps to be fully encrypted. Facebook also intends to have user content and messages to self-destruct after a certain period of time. That evidently didn’t sit well with Cox, who wrote at the time that the privacy initiative is “a big project and we will need leaders who are excited to see the new direction through.”
Cox, who rejoins Facebook on June 22, said 2020 has “refocused us all, on a public health crisis, an economic crisis, and now a reckoning of racial injustice. The world is unsettled, divided. People are struggling when things were already hard.”
Zuckerberg, who reposted Cox’s message, said only, “I’m really excited Chris is coming back to Facebook!”
Among the pressing issues at Facebook is how to manage political speech.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="The company has drawn criticism — including from its own employees — for deciding to take no action on a Trump post from last month in which the president said about protests in Minneapolis, “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!” Zuckerberg previously said the “looting and shooting” post didn’t violate Facebook’s policies forbidding incitement of violence, and he’s said the company does not want to “do fact-checks for politicians.”” data-reactid=”27″>The company has drawn criticism — including from its own employees — for deciding to take no action on a Trump post from last month in which the president said about protests in Minneapolis, “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!” Zuckerberg previously said the “looting and shooting” post didn’t violate Facebook’s policies forbidding incitement of violence, and he’s said the company does not want to “do fact-checks for politicians.”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Meanwhile, the campaign of Joe Biden, who is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has urged supporters to sign an open letter calling on Facebook to take more decisive action to eliminate misinformation on the platform. That includes a demand that Facebook fact-check political ads, something the social-media giant has declined to do.” data-reactid=”28″>Meanwhile, the campaign of Joe Biden, who is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has urged supporters to sign an open letter calling on Facebook to take more decisive action to eliminate misinformation on the platform. That includes a demand that Facebook fact-check political ads, something the social-media giant has declined to do.
Cox first joined Facebook in 2005 as a software engineer and helped build the first versions of key Facebook features, including News Feed. In 2008 he became Facebook’s first VP of product, where he built the initial product management and design teams, before being promoted to chief product officer in 2014 where he has overseen all of the company’s apps: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.
According to Cox, during his time away from Facebook, “I refocused my time, spinning up climate change initiatives, building progressive political infrastructure for this election year, playing with my reggae band, and reconnecting with my family and kiddos.”
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