Chris Cox is out of place after two years of Facebook's crisis and scandal surrounding data security and misinformation, The New York Times reported.
Candidate to replace Mark Zuckerberg
Joining Facebook in 2005 as one of the first 15 software engineers, Chris Cox is behind many of Facebook's core products, including News feed.
He is considered one of the closest people to Mark Zuckerberg.
Just last spring, Chris Cox, Facebook's product director, was promoted to include monitoring of WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. Many people have thought about the plan to prepare for successor. If Mark Zuckerberg leaves Facebook, his longtime close friend and representative of the technical and product team, Chris Cox, will be the successor.
Chris Cox is also responsible for training new recruits and assisting in developing a strategy for all of Facebook's products.
Chris Cox left Facebook as the social network has just announced a major shift in strategic priorities, emphasizing "private rights". The company also witnessed some changes in leadership personnel. Will Cathcart, who was previously in charge of Facebook's core app, moved to WhatsApp, while his replacement was Fidji Simo.
Chris Cox's position as product director has not been replaced. The heads of Facebook apps, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, previously reported to Cox that they will now work directly with Zuckerberg.
Facebook faces crisis
In a letter to employees, Zuckerberg said Mr. Cox discussed the idea of leaving Facebook a few years ago. After 2016, he agreed to stay to handle some of the social media's issues.
"I will miss Chris very much, but I am especially grateful for what he did to build this place and serve our community," Zuckerberg wrote.
At the same time, Chris Daniels, head of WhatsApp, also left Facebook. A few months earlier, both Facebook founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton had also quit after disagreements with Zuckerberg.
In recent years, Facebook has been criticized for eroding security rules, exposing user data, and collecting customer data for advertising purposes.
Right before the news of Chris Cox's departure was announced, according to the New York Times, US prosecutors have just opened a criminal investigation into a data sharing agreement between Facebook and manufacturers of smartphone and tablet devices.
Previously, officials of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also considered issuing a huge fine that could be up to billions of dollars for Facebook for user data violations in 2018. According to Business Insider, this number may continue to increase after the investigation.
The information that Facebook was being criminally investigated until the time of this social network incident had a global incident on the night of March 13 lasted until the morning of March 14, Vietnam time. Users in many places around the world have announced that they cannot use Facebook and Instagram normally. There are many errors occurring at the same time depending on each account.
The BBC said the foul was a record-breaking blow to Facebook. "The long period of time combined with the number of affected users makes this the most serious incident in Facebook's history," YouTube reporter Dave Lee said on Twitter, reporting on Silicon Valley.
