Facebook’s security chief, Alex Stamos, plans to step down from the embattled social-media company this year, people familiar with the matter said, following clashes with policy executives and an internal reorganization that whittled down his responsibilities.
Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Mr. Stamos has been at the center of Facebook’s response to Russian efforts to manipulate public discourse using its platform. He and other security officials often argued that Facebook should publicly disclose more details about the Russian efforts, a stance often at odds with the more cautious approach advocated by Facebook’s policy team, overseen by Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, people familiar with the internal deliberations said.
In January, the bulk of Mr. Stamos’s security team was moved to groups managed by other executives, the people said. That helped prompt his decision to step down, which Mr. Stamos has told associates he plans to do in August, they said.
Mr. Stamos posted a message on Twitter late Monday saying: “Despite the rumors, I’m still fully engaged with my work at Facebook. It’s true that my role did change. I’m currently spending more time exploring emerging security risks and working on election security.” He didn’t address if he planned to step down from Facebook in the future.
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