Tech

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg: 'It's not a question of if regulation, it's a question of what type'

Key Points
  • Sandberg's comments come a day after CEO Mark Zuckerberg broke his silence on the Cambridge Analytica data scandal in a Facebook post and multiple interviews.
  • The data research firm is accused of improperly gaining access to the personal information of tens of millions of Facebook users.
  • Facebook has lost more than $50 billion in stock market value this week amid the fallout.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg: We're open to regulation
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Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg: We're open to regulation

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg apologized for the Cambridge Analytica data scandal in an interview with CNBC's "Closing Bell" on Thursday and said the fallout is likely to bring greater regulation for the social media giant.

"Mark [Zuckerberg] has said, 'It's not a question of if regulation, it's a question of what type,'" Sandberg said. "We're open to regulation. We work with lawmakers all over the world."

Facebook is facing questions from lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic after research firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, was suspended from Facebook for allegedly misusing the personal information of tens of millions of Facebook users.

"We know this is an issue of trust. We know this is a critical moment for our company, for the service we provide," Sandberg said. "We are going to do everything we can."

The fallout this week following a pair of reports by The Observer newspaper in the U.K. and The New York Times has cost Facebook more than $50 billion in stock market value.

"That's not how we look at it. We don't look at these trade-offs like, oh it's going to hurt our business in the long run and in the immediate term," Sandberg said. "People's trust is the most important thing we have, and that is how we make those decisions."

Sandberg's comments come a day after founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg broke his silence in a Facebook post and multiple interviews with the media.

Tech insiders, lawmakers and even Facebook employees had been waiting for days to hear from Zuckerberg and Sandberg.

"Sometimes, and I would say certainly this past week, we speak too slowly," Sandberg said. "If I could live this past week again, I would definitely have had Mark and myself out speaking earlier, but we were trying to get to the bottom of this."

— CNBC's Julia Boorstin contributed to this report.