Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) COO Sheryl Sandberg will attend meetings with lawmakers this week where they will talk about aligning tech and innovation with policy.
The Facebook COO will be hosted by Nancy Pelosi, who is the House minority leader. They will meet on Thursday together with some of the house members that support the Democrats’ Innovation Agenda 2.0. The subject of the meeting will be the social giant’s latest developments and the advantages of having more people connected to the internet. The Innovation Agenda 2.0 was initiated at the beginning of the year to propel policy proposals that are designed to promote innovation in the tech sector.
The initiative features events held in different parts of the US and it is not only open to Democrats but also lawmakers and individuals that are non-democrats. So far such events have been hosted by roughly 30 Democrats in their districts. Apart from attending the meeting hosted by Pelosi, Sandberg will also attend another meeting hosted by Utah’s Senator Orrin Hatch. A recent Facebook post from Sandberg stated that technology provokes genuine progress for people. She also pointed out that technological innovations are characterized by their own challenges and thus the need to join efforts so that the benefits can outweigh the disadvantages.
Facebook will feature some of its products such as the Oculus Rift virtual technology headset. It will also feature a visual recognition program designed to help the blind to use the Facebook social platform. Senator Hatch has already presented a list of things that he believes should be discussed during the meeting. Some of them include free speech, computer science education, privacy, immigration, and labor. A spokesman from the senator’s office revealed that the duration of the meeting will be one hour.
Sandberg will also attend a meeting scheduled on Thursday with Speaker Paul Ryan. During her meeting with the Republican senators, the Facebook COO is not expected to take political sides. She will represent her company and will also be a symbol of gender equality in the tech industry.