Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg asked for an investigation on George Soros

Sheryl Sandberg, second-in-command of Facebook and one of CEO's closest confidants, Mark Zuckerberg, has asked his communications team to review billionaire investor George Soros's finances after criticizing Facebook at a global conference in January, according to an email quoted by the New York Times and BuzzFeed News. Just two weeks ago, Sandberg denied knowing of another attempt to pass information on Soros by a political firm hired by the social media giant.

Sandberg's request comes after Soros gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2018. In his speech, the Liberal financier protested what he called "monopolistic control." "Facebook and Google, warning against it has labeled the threat of business for democracy and its impact on human behavior.

The social media giant acknowledged in a response to the Times and Buzzfeed articles that Sandberg had asked his subordinates to determine whether Soros bet on Facebook by reducing the company's stock.

The Times announced that Sorberg's request for information about Soros had arrived in the coming days. from his speech in January. In a late statement Thursday, following the articles, sent to CBS News and other media outlets, Facebook said it was already reviewing Soros at the time of Sandberg's application.

"Mr. Soros is a leading investor and we looked at his investments and business activities related to Facebook," said the company. "This research was already underway when Sheryl sent an email asking if Mr. Soros had bypassed Facebook's actions."

A few months later, Facebook hired the company Definers Public Affairs, founded by Republicans, to help handle two scandals: Russian attempts to use Facebook to spread misinformation during the presidential campaign of 2016, as well as explosive allegations concerning Cambridge Analytica and the misuse of personal data of Facebook users.

Facebook sacked Definers after a Times investigation revealed the relationship earlier in November.

Facebook said Thursday that although Sandberg "took full responsibility for any activity that was taking place under her watch," she personally had not conducted any research on Freedom from Facebook, an anti-Facebook coalition whose members were among the subjects treated by Definers. later work. "

The Definitors contributed to the dissemination of stories about other technology companies in an apparent effort to distract Facebook's attention, and provided journalists with information to connect Soros to anti-Facebook groups.

The revelation of these tactics, in a New York Times investigation of November 14, has attracted much criticism, notably because Soros is often the target of conspiracy theories Conservative Antisemites.

In an interview with " CBS This Morning " on November 16, Sandberg stated that Definers had been hired by "the communications team" and that she was not Had been informed of his work only by the Times. " Definers has been hired, we have a lot of companies. They were hired not to mess someone up. Do not write articles or do anything wrong. I learned this in the newspaper yesterday, when Mark did it yesterday, "she said.

She then acknowledged in a Facebook post on November 21 that" some of their Work had been incorporated into documents that were presented to me and I received a small number of emails to which Definers was referenced. "