“After 14 years, I will be leaving Meta,” said Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of the American social media giant, on Facebook on Wednesday, who will however remain on the Board of Directors.

She assured that these years "alongside Mark" Zuckerberg, the boss and founder of the company, have been "the honor and the privilege of a lifetime", while the Californian group is widely criticized by politicians and the public. civil society for its economic model.

"It's the end of an era," the billionaire commented on his profile.

He recalled that in 2008, when he hired Sheryl Sandberg, he was just 23 and knew “nothing about corporate governance.”

She was 38, and a career with prestigious organizations, from the World Bank to the consulting group McKinsey. She had also worked for the US Treasury as director of personnel and Google as vice president of international sales and operations.

“Sheryl designed the architecture of our advertising business, recruited great people, shaped our corporate culture and taught me how to run a company. She created opportunities for millions of people around the world and it is largely thanks to her that Meta became the group it is today.

Meta told AFP that Javi Olivan would be the new chief operating officer, but Mark Zuckerberg clarified that he does not intend to replace Sheryl Sandberg's position as is.

"I think Meta has reached the point where it makes sense for our product and our different businesses to be more integrated with each other," he said.

After establishing itself as the world's leading social network in the 2000s, Facebook expanded and acquired other services, such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus, to remain essential.

At the end of 2021, the founder renamed the parent company "Meta", to mark the turning point towards the metaverse, this parallel universe accessible in augmented and virtual reality.

But its economic model, based on targeted advertising on a very large scale, very intensive in personal data, has caused controversy after controversy since 2016. And many authorities accuse it of abuse of a dominant position, like its neighbor Google, world leader in digital advertising.

“The debate around social networks no longer has anything to do with the beginnings,” noted Sheryl Sandberg in her long message where she looks back on the main stages of her fourteen years at Facebook.

"To say it hasn't always been easy is an understatement. But it's normal for it to be difficult. Our products have a huge impact so we have a responsibility to design them in a way that protects people's privacy and security."