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Sheryl Sandberg asked Facebook staff to 'look into' Soros investments
It has been about two weeks since the New York Times published an exposé on Facebook's response to bad press and protests against it over the last couple of years. Since then, an outgoing exec took responsibility for hiring a PR firm, Definers, that had contacted members of the press trying to link anti-Facebook activists to the investor George Soros. Tonight, the New York Times reports that COO Sheryl Sandberg had emailed employees asking them to look into Soros, frequently a target of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In a statement to the paper Facebook confirmed the investigation and her request, although it claimed that it had begun prior to the email. It said that "Mr. Soros is a prominent investor and we looked into his investments and trading activity related to Facebook. That research was already underway when Sheryl sent an email asking if Mr. Soros had shorted Facebook's stock." Sandberg's request reportedly occurred in January, after Soros made a speech calling for tighter regulation on internet giants like Facebook and Google. In a Facebook post published November 15th, Sandberg said the company was no longer working with Definers, and "I did not know we hired them or about the work they were doing, but I should have. I have great respect for George Soros – and the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories against him are abhorrent." The reported emails don't conflict with that statement, but it did omit reference to the investigation, and activist groups targeted by the PR firm like Freedom from Facebook and Color of Change are asking more questions about the strategy.
Zuckerberg says stepping down at Facebook is 'not the plan'
Once again, there has been a bombshell report about Facebook and once again, execs are doing the rounds on cable news. This time instead of Sheryl Sandberg, it's CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and his tone in a CNN Business interview was not nearly as apologetic as we saw the company earlier this year after news broke about Cambridge Analytica. As we've seen lately, he didn't directly address many of the claims made about Facebook's behavior, but characterized them as generally inaccurate, saying "It is not clear to me at all that the report is right" about the New York Times article that sparked this latest round of criticism.
Qualcomm reportedly hired crisis PR firm behind Facebook controversy
The New York Times' expose that revealed the relationship between Facebook and Definers mentioned that the controversial PR firm has another big-name client from the tech industry. That client reportedly hired the company to launch a campaign against Apple and to spread negative news about the tech giant in the same way it spread damaging stories about Facebook's critics. And, no, it wasn't talking about Facebook itself. While the piece didn't reveal the third company's identity, a couple of reports by Business Insider and NBC News suggest that the firm is none other than Qualcomm.
Once again, Facebook has a lot of explaining to do
Just when you thought things couldn't get worse for Facebook, The New York Times has come out with a bombshell exposé of the company's tumultuous last two years. That, of course, includes its handling (er, mishandling) of the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal and other controversies, like the lack of transparency around Russian interference on its site leading up to the 2016 US presidential election. The paper says it spoke with more than 50 people, including current and former Facebook employees, who detailed the company's efforts to contain, deny and deflect negative stories that came its way.
