Tech

Here's Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's opening statement to Congress on Russian interference: 'We were too slow'

By Rob Price
sheryl sandberg
Sheryl Sandberg. Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images
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  • Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg will testify before a US Senate select committee on election interference on Wednesday.
  • A copy of her opening statement has been released early.
  • Sandberg will apologise for Facebook's response to Russian interference during the 2016 US presidential election: "We were too slow to spot this and too slow to act."


It will be Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's turn in the Congressional hot seat on Wednesday, and she plans to offer an apologetic message: "We were too slow to spot this and too slow to act."

Ahead of a Senate intelligence select committee hearing that will also feature Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Business Insider has obtained a copy of the opening statement Sandberg plans to deliver to the assembled congresspeople. 

"The threat we face is not new. America has always confronted attacks from opponents who wish to undermine our democracy. What is new are the tactics they use. That means it's going to take everyone including industry, governments, and experts from civil society working together to stay ahead," Sandberg will say, in part. Following her remarks, she and Dorsey will be subject to questions from the Senate. 

The hearing comes after months of bruising scandals for Facebook, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which as many as 87 million users had their information improperly obtained, and further revelations around Russian misuse of the platform to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election. It's also just months before the 2018 midterm elections. 

In recent weeks Facebook has revealed the existence of multiple influence operations intended to influence politics in a manner similar to Russia's 2016 intervention, aimed at the US, as well as other countries around the world.

The committee also invited Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Alphabet CEO Larry Page, but both declined to appear. Google offered to send Senior VP Kent Walker, but the Senate declined on the basis that he recently testified. 

Here are Sheryl Sandberg's full opening remarks:

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Rob Price
Rob Price was a senior correspondent at Business Insider, based in San Francisco. He wrote investigations and long-form features about platforms, people, and power in Silicon Valley.His stories variously led to attorney general investigations, large-scale internal reviews at major tech companies, high-profile personnel departures, citation by state and federal lawmakers, and the closure of a well-funded startup. His 2022 story on the Bitfinex hack is being adapted into a feature film, and in 2024 he received an SPJ NorCal Excellence in Journalism award for his reporting on AI and relationships.Rob's scoops and exclusive stories were cited by The New York Times, Bloomberg, the BBC, Associated Press, Reuters, CNBC, Politico, The Guardian, Axios, and many other national and international publications. His writing has also been published in or syndicated by The Washington Post, The Independent, Vice, Slate, and elsewhere, and he appeared on CNN, the BBC, CBS, Reuters, ABC Australia, and other broadcast media to discuss technology, business, and culture.He worked for Business Insider from 2015 to 2025. Prior to joining the features team, Rob covered Facebook and Silicon Valley, and before that wrote about tech business, policy, and the gig economy in London. Between September and October 2019, he was acting executive editor for Business Insider's UK bureau. He also sat on the board of directors for the San Francisco Press Club, the leading non-profit media advocacy group in the Bay Area, and was a volunteer crew member at the Marine Mammal Center, the world's largest animal hospital for marine mammals. You can contact Rob Price via email at robaeprice@gmail.com, or +1 650-636-6268 (Signal / WhatsApp / Cell). Selected stories:— They spoke out against their employer. Then they were hit with trade secrets suits.— The rise of 'shadow stand-ins'— App, Lover, Muse: Inside a 47-year-old Minnesota man's three-year relationship with an AI chatbot— Deel Speed: The inside story of a $12 billion HR startup's breakneck growth— Private islands, flying cars, and psychedelic parties: Inside the wild post-Google lives of Larry Page and Sergey Brin— 'I want your Instagram account': First came the threatening texts, followed by the SWAT teams. Then someone wound up dead.— Inside Iconiq: How Mark Zuckerberg's banker built a secret Silicon Valley empire and made billions— Gaia was a wildly popular yoga brand. Now it's a publicly traded Netflix rival pushing conspiracy theories while employees fear the CEO is invading their dreams— A drunken late-night assault allegation has roiled the secretive world of Mark Zuckerberg's private family office. Personal aides are speaking out about claims that household staff endured sexual harassment and racism from their colleagues.
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