Facebook admits hiring PR firm to attack billionaire George Soros

Image: Getty Images / Chip Somodevilla

Facebook is carefully walking back statements it made about hiring a Republican opposition-research group to investigate billionaire George Soros.

In a blog post published late Wednesday, right before many Americans left work to begin the Thanksgiving holiday, Facebook admitted to asking an opposition-research company to investigate billionaire George Soros over his public criticism of the social network.

Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s outgoing head of communications and policy, explained the company’s decision to hire Definers Public Affairs and essentially took the blame for the decision.

“In January 2018, investor and philanthropist George Soros attacked Facebook in a speech at Davos, calling us a menace to society,” said Schrage. 

“We had not heard such criticism from him before and wanted to determine if he had any financial motivation. Definers researched this using public information.”

“Later, when the Freedom from Facebook campaign emerged as a so-called grassroots coalition, the team asked Definers to help understand the groups behind them,” he added. 

“They learned that George Soros was funding several of the coalition members. They prepared documents and distributed these to the press to show that this was not simply a spontaneous grassroots movement.”

Schrage’s admission flies in the face of statements previously made by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, who both denied having any knowledge of hiring Definers until the news was made public by a New York Times investigation last week.

Sandberg said in a comment attached to the bottom of Schrage’s post that she initially did not remember hiring the Republican opposition-research firm when she read the New York Times story. 

But Sandberg inevitably walks back her denial of knowing about Definers, admitting that the work “crossed her desk.”

Sandberg emphasized that the company did not intend to play into anti-Semetic conspiracy theories about Soros.

“I also want to emphasize that it was never anyone’s intention to play into an anti-Semitic narrative against Mr. Soros or anyone else,” she said.

“Being Jewish is a core part of who I am and our company stands firmly against hate. The idea that our work has been interpreted as anti-Semitic is abhorrent to me — and deeply personal.”

But Facebook’s response to the scandal, and the many scandals that have predated this, suggest that the company is trying scuttle the admission that it did indeed hire a Republican-opposition research company to conduct a smear campaign against its critics, as first reported by the New York Times. 

Still, despite all of this drama, Facebook does not have any major leadership changes planned. Zuckerberg told CNN Tuesday he has no plans to step down as chairman, and that he supports COO Sheryl Sandberg, who feared she may lose her job according to a Wall Street Journal report.

So it seems that despite all the public backlash, Facebook remains an unsinkable and unshakeable network. We just hope that some of the more savvy users will finally consider deleting their accounts.