Facebook cuts ties with political consulting firm Definers

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They smoked, but did not inhale.

Facebook has decided to stop working with the consulting firm Definers, the company wrote in a statement published Thursday. It also denied that Facebook ever contracted Definers to do opposition research-style work on its behalf. The action comes in the wake of a sweeping New York Times article published Wednesday that included reports that Definers sought to bolster Facebook’s image by encouraging the publication of negative content about its competitors and critics.

“Lastly we wanted to address the issue of Definers, who we ended our contract with last night,” Facebook wrote. “The New York Times is wrong to suggest that we ever asked Definers to pay for or write articles on Facebook’s behalf – or to spread misinformation.”

The Times article published Wednesday reported on the actions of high-level leadership during the last three years at Facebook, which included the response to Russian manipulation on the platform, decisions around hate speech, and the ways the company sought to bolster its political relationships and public image, while avoiding regulations.

One of the ways it reportedly did so was through work with Definers, a consulting firm founded by Republican political operatives. Definers reportedly advised opposition research style tactics, which means pushing out damaging content about competitors and critics. 

For Facebook, this allegedly included bringing competitors like Google and Twitter into the election manipulation conversation, disparaging Apple, exposing that a grassroots anti-Facebook campaign was funded by George Soros, and accusing those protesters of anti-semitism. 

The Times did note in its original article that Facebook did not pay for the anti-Apple press release items, published by the Definers affiliate NTK-Network. Another unnamed technology company reportedly paid for negative Apple press releases, which were in turn picked up by outlets like Breitbart. But Definers official Tim Miller reportedly told the Times that regarding Apple and privacy, “Facebook is happy to ‘muddy the waters.'”

Facebook responded to the Times article in a statement largely denying the reports of how its executives responded, in real time, to election manipulation and hate speech threats online. Curiously, it did not deny reports of Facebook’s beef with Apple in the wake of Tim Cook’s comments criticizing Facebook on privacy — which it used as its reason why it never hired Definers to criticize Apple. That beef included Zuckerberg “encouraging” employees to use Android phones instead of iPhones.

“Tim Cook has consistently criticized our business model and Mark has been equally clear he disagrees,” Facebook wrote. “So there’s been no need to employ anyone else to do this for us.”

In other words, Apple says it can fight its street battles itself.