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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Dani Anguiano in Los Angeles

Meta's Sheryl Sandberg allegedly leant on news site to drop stories about ex-boyfriend

Sheryl Sandberg Bobby Kotick Daily Mail Meta Mail Facebook Activision Activision Blizzard Wall Street Journal
COO of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington, DC, September 2018.
Sheryl Sandberg, then COO of Facebook, testifies before a Senate intelligence committee hearing in Washington DC in September 2018. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Sheryl Sandberg, the Meta executive, allegedly pressured the Daily Mail to drop unflattering stories about her then-boyfriend Bobby Kotick, the Activision Blizzard CEO, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal reports that she persuaded the digital edition of the Mail not to run stories revealing that an ex-girlfriend of Kotick had obtained a temporary restraining order against him in 2014. Kotick reportedly said that Sandberg, who he dated for three years until 2019, told the Mail in 2016 that if the article were published, it could damage the outlet’s relationship with Facebook. Sandberg allegedly contacted the Daily Mail in 2016 and 2019 to put a stop to the articles, and both times the stories never ran.

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