Mark Zuckerberg believes Facebook is at 'war,' report says

Mark Zuckerberg is feeling the heat.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Facebook’s founder and CEO believes his company is currently at "war." The comment came from Mark Zuckerberg this past June in a meeting with a few dozen of Facebook’s top executives amid the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

In this same June meeting, Zuckerberg told executives that he was going to be taking a more active role in Facebook’s day-to-day operations. With the social media platform fighting on multiple fronts — between Congress, the press, and even his own executives — Zuckerberg clearly felt he needed to take a more active role.

Zuckerberg’s key issue with his company was the speed at which it was dealing with the major conflicts afflicting it. According to the report, the Facebook founder was pushing for senior executives to “make progress faster” and was frustrated with how the company was handling its crises.

Some of Facebook’s top executives were so rattled by Zuckerberg’s response to the issues facing the company that they feared for their jobs. According to the report, even Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg worried about her job security after much of the blame for the Cambridge Analytica fallout on her and her team.

The report claims Zuckerberg’s new, more hands-on role has led to conflicts with the heads of Facebook’s other units. The report alleges that this played a part in the recent departures of Instagram’s and WhatsApp’s founders.

The June meeting came in the midst of public outcry against Facebook over fake news, Russian influence, and leaks involving users’ private data.

This past week, the New York Times released a bombshell report detailing how Facebook mishandled those issues, as well as its attempts to get ahead of critics. In the wake of that report, Zuckerberg allegedly blasted the media coverage as “bullshit” at a company Q&A on Friday.