Facebook Spends $23 Million On Mark Zuckerberg's Security

JAKARTA - Facebook spent more than $23 million last year on CEO Mark Zuckerberg's safety. That's part of a new filing from Facebook to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As reported by Antara, Sunday, April 11, Facebook's annual review of the company's security, identified specific threats against Zuckerberg. According to a proxy statement filed on Friday, April 9, as quoted from The Verge, Sunday, April 11.

"He's synonymous with Facebook, and as a result, negative sentiments related to our company are directly attributed to (Zuckerberg), and are often transferred to Zuckerberg," the representative said of Facebook's CEO role.

The company's annual review of security programs shows the cost of protecting Zuckerberg and his family increased by 2020 primarily due to THE COVID-19 travel protocol, increased security coverage during the 2020 U.S. presidential election season, as well as increased costs for security personnel and other compensation.

Part of all the other compensation from the proxy statement shows Facebook spent $23 million on personal security at Zuckerberg's residence and for his travels and family.

The CEO also received an additional $10 million in security personnel costs and other security costs. Basic security costs rose to $13.4 million last year, compared with $10.4 million the previous year.

"The compensation, nomination and governance committee believes that these costs are appropriate and necessary given the threat landscape and the fact that Mr. Zuckerberg has requested to receive only $1 in annual salary and has not received bonus payments, equity awards, or other incentive compensation," according to the proxy statement.

In addition, in a proxy filed, Facebook said it would submit a proposal at its May 26 shareholder meeting to offer personal security to non-employee directors from time to time, which it said was necessary because of "ongoing oversight faced by our directors as a result of their services on the board of directors."

A January report by the Tech Transparency Project found that some of the riotous extremists in the Capitol attack had been using private groups on Facebook for months to plan and coordinate the January 6 uprising, despite a statement from Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg that "events are largely organized on platforms that lack the ability to stop hate, have no standards, and lack transparency."