According to Business Insider’s investigation, Zuckerberg is said to have a number of different measures to protect himself, including a "Praetorian Guard" embedded with the crowd at company meetings and a "panic chute" in a conference room.
The news outlet reported that Zuckerberg “has access to a large glass-walled conference room in the middle of the space near his desk that features bullet-resistant windows and a panic button.”
The outlet underscored that there's a persistent rumour among Facebook employees that their boss has a secret 'panic chute' his team can evacuate him down to get him out of the office in a hurry. While one of the sources said they had been briefed about the existence of a secret exit route through the floor of the conference room into the parking garage, others said they had no knowledge of it.
READ MORE: Mark Zuckerberg Outlines New Plan to Build 'Privacy-Focused' Facebook
The outlet also reported that Zuckerberg has a team of armed executive-protection officers that sweep through any bar or public place before he enters. The officers stand outside his gated homes in the Bay Area, at least one of which also features a panic room; they will vet any new doctors, and they will assess his instructors if he wants to take up a new hobby. Moreover, the Facebook founder is driven everywhere, with the security team monitoring traffic and adjusting his route accordingly. One of the sources told Business Insider that the latter became necessary back when Zuckerberg still drove, as he was “a sh*tty driver.”
A Facebook employee told Business Insider that executive-protection officers are instructed to be alert for employees and guests at Facebook offices trying to take unauthorized photos. These people are sitting and staring at screens, pretending to be software engineers, however, they are actually security guards.
“Once I was there at 7 am, and tried to take a picture of his office (he was not inside) to send to my family, but immediately 3 of the men came seemingly out of nowhere and asked me to delete the picture,” an employee wrote in a Quora post.
In a 2018 SEC filing for the company's second-quarter, Facebook said it had approved a "pre-tax allowance" of $10 million to Zuckerberg for his and his family's personal security.
"This allowance will be in addition to the continued funding of Mr. Zuckerberg’s overall security program to cover the costs of security personnel for his protection; the procurement, installation, and maintenance of certain required security measures for his residences; and the usage of private aircraft for personal travel," the filing said.
