Facebook security chief Alex Stamos resigns

Alex Stamos, who has served as Facebook’s chief security officer since 2015, has announced his retirement from the company on August 17. It was previously rumored that he had decided to leave the company after disagreements over how to tackle disinformation.

In a message on Facebook, Stamos announced that he will start working at Stanford University in September as a lecturer and researcher. In the fall he will offer a course called Hack Lab in which ‘offensive and defensive techniques’ will be discussed. Facebook informed The Verge in an email that it has not designated a replacement for the position of chief security officer. The company no longer has a specialized security team, but has transferred those employees to other departments.

The New York Times had previously reported, citing sources within Facebook, that Stamos was stepping down over disagreements over how to tackle disinformation. He spoke that news later self against. The paper wrote that Stamos was in favor of providing more openness about outside influence on Facebook and that he felt it necessary to restructure to address the issues. Also, his team of originally 120 people would have been reduced to 3.

Stamos’s departure is accompanied by a recent announcement from Facebook that it has again removed accounts and pages that were said to be part of an influence campaign.