Facebook paid US$7.3m for Mark Zuckerberg’s security last year in light of ‘specific threats’

Facebook increased its spending on security for Mark Zuckerberg by 50 per cent last year, the company has disclosed, paying more than US$7.3million to protect its top executive.

The security funds were required “due to specific threats to his safety arising directly as a result of his position as our founder, chairman, and CEO,” the under-fire social media company said in a new filing to US regulators.

Facebook also said it spent more than US$1.5million on Zuckerberg’s travel aboard private jets in 2017, meaning that in all the company has spent about US$20million on security and private planes for Zuckerberg since 2015.

Security measures at Zuckerberg’s home in California are paid for by the company, according to the filing, as well as bodyguards who accompany the 33-year-old on his travels outside Facebook’s headquarters.

“We require these security measures for the company’s benefit because of the importance of Mr Zuckerberg to Facebook, and we believe that the costs of this overall security programme are appropriate and necessary,” the company said.

Zuckerberg has come under sharp criticism for his company’s role in the spread of disinformation and political propaganda online. Last week he faced 10 hours of questions from US congressional committees but escaped largely unscathed.

The hearings were prompted by the disclosure that tens of millions of Facebook users had their data harvested by a researcher working with Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy hired by Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.