Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook parent Meta’s second-highest ranked executive, twice pressured the Daily Mail to kill potentially damaging stories about her then-boyfriend, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, according to a report Thursday.
The bombshell report alleges Sandberg contacted the British tabloid in 2016 and 2019.On both occasions, the Daily Mail was working on a story which would have revealed that one of Kotick’s ex-girlfriends had obtained a temporary restraining order against him in 2014.
Sandberg and Kotick reportedly worked with a team that included active employees at Facebook and Activision as well as paid outside advisers to develop a plan on how to get the Mail to table the stories.
Sandberg and her team were said to be concerned that an unflattering report on Kotick would be harmful to her reputation as an advocate for women – which includes her work with the nonprofit advocacy organization Lean ISources told the Wall Street Journal that Sandberg was first involved in efforts to scuttle the story in 2016, when she and Kotick had first started dating, as well as in 2019, closer to their breakup.Facebook officials are actively probing whether Sandberg’s behavior constituted a violation of company rules.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Daily Mail’s digital arm was probing court filing related to the claims against Kotick. The ex-girlfriend obtained a temporary restraining order after the Activision executive allegedly confronted her at her home.
In both 2016 and 2019, Sandberg purportedly told the Daily Mail that Kotick’s accuser had retracted her claims. The outlet never published a story on the matter.
A Daily Mail representative did not immediately return a request for comment on the report.
Court records revealed the temporary restraining order against Kotick was removed shortly after it was implemented. Sources told the Wall Street Journal that Kotick’s accuser had told others that some of her claims were exaggerated or false. Additionally, the Daily Mail is purportedly aware that some of the claims were Kotick’s former girlfriend slammed the Wall Street Journal’s report in a statement to The Post through her representative.
“I told the Wall Street Journal that what I said 8 years ago about Bobby was false. It is still false,” the woman said. “In fact, in 2014, I signed a sworn statement making clear that what I had said was untrue. Nonetheless, the Journal decided to exploit me for an article it wanted to publish about Bobby.”According to the Journal, Kotick told associates that Sandberg warned the Daily Mail that any article they published regarding the situation could hurt the outlet’s relationship with Facebook – whose platform is a considerable source of traffic and revenue for countless media