Outgoing Facebook policy boss defends hiring controversial firm


Facebook’s head of communications and policy said in a blog post he is responsible for hiring a controversial public relations firm that targeted the company’s critics.

Elliot Schrage, who said in June he would leave the company but is still working, said Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg shouldn’t be blamed for hiring Definers Public Affairs, a Republican-linked firm, in 2017 as the social-media network came under intense scrutiny for failing to stop Russian disinformation during the 2016 presidential election. Schrage said Definers was hired to ensure that Facebook could understand and lobby Republican lawmakers as well as Democrats.

At one point, Definers tied critics of the company to billionaire financier George Soros, who has been a target of anti-Semitic attacks. Schrage said the company asked Definers to investigate Soros, defending the move as legitimate because Facebook wanted to understand his motivation for attacking the company in a speech.

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Via AdAge

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