The latest test to Zuckerberg’s leadership.

Is Mark Zuckerberg’s unusually powerful position at Facebook in part to blame for the latest backlash against the company?

The giant social media company is under the spotlight because a political data firm apparently misused information about more than 50 million Facebook users. Facebook is still facing questions about Russia-linked accounts that had significant reach within the United States through the social network. In both cases, Facebook has struggled to show the public that it can get in front of its problems. Information about the Russia-linked accounts came out piecemeal, and Facebook knew as early as 2015 that the political data firm had violated its data policies.

Mr. Zuckerberg at first downplayed concerns about Facebook’s role in the 2016 presidential election (something he later said he regretted). His recent communications contain more high-minded deliberation than hard discussion of the company’s problems and how to deal with them.

These look like the reactions of a leader who thinks he is not going anywhere. Indeed, through his holding of special voting shares, Mr. Zuckerberg has an especially powerful position at Facebook that might shield him from the normal forces of accountability. C.E.O.s without that protection might do more to tackle a big problem because it more directly threatens their job security.

Facebook, of course, has taken steps to address the abuse of its network. It has added hundreds of new employees to help police posts, and it has implemented artificial intelligence technology to spot material that falls afoul of the company’s guidelines. Such initiatives cost money. Mr. Zuckerberg earlier this year said that such initiatives would have a significant impact on Facebook’s profitability. Indeed, there’s a strong argument to make that Mr. Zuckerberg’s protected position will allow the company to press ahead with expensive investments in the face of any shareholder grumbling that may arise.

In the near term, though, it’s hard to envision shareholders applying significant pressure on Facebook to be more responsive to the political and legal risks. They may believe Facebook’s extraordinary profitability – its operating profits are roughly equivalent to 40 percent of its revenue – will help the stock ride what they see as a passing storm.