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SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook has ended its relationship with a Washington-based consulting firm, Definers Public Affairs, which spreads disparate information about the social network's critics and competitors, according to a person familiar with the decision.
The move to the New York Times article on Facebook Among other things, Definers worked to discredit activist protesters that were against Facebook, in part by linking them to the financial liberal George Soros. It also tried to deflect criticism of the social network by pressing reporters to look into rivals like Google.
Late Wednesday, Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/index.php Top Facebook executives including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg were not aware of the specific work being done by Definers, the person said.
In a statement, Facebook said it was not a secret.
"We are wrong to say that we have never asked for anything," a Facebook spokeswoman said in the statement.
"The relationship with Facebook is well known to the media – not least because they have been on several occasions," the spokeswoman added.
Definers was founded by veterans of Republican presidential campaigns and specialized in political tactics tactics to corporate public relations. Last year, Miller Tim Miller, Definers official and spokesman for Jeb Bush, started in Silicon Valley chapter. Hey said in one interview that a technology studio mature, a goal should be to "have positive content" and "that you are being pushed to your competitor."
Facebook initially hired Definers to monitor news about the social network. It expanded its relationship with the firm in October 2017 when it was scrutinized by the United States of America.
The Times reported on Wednesday that this year, a conservative website called NTK Network, has been working on Facebook and rivals like Google. NTK is an affiliate of Definers.
In addition, Mr. Soros, the billionaire liberal donor, has the unacknowledged force behind what appears to be a broad anti-Facebook movement. Mr. Soros and his group of people have criticized Facebook, including a progressive group founded by Mr. Soros' son and Color of Change, an online racial justice organization.
An official at Mr. Soros' Open Society Foundations said the philanthropy had supported both members groups, but that was not made to support campaigns against Facebook.
"We are proud to have partnered with us on the past year. "Definers spokesman said in a statement.
He added, "The document is referenced in the Times story regarding the anti-Facebook organization's potential funding sources are entirely factual and based on public records."
Mr. Miller said late Wednesday on Twitter that he was hurt by accusations that Mr. Soros was anti-Semitic. "Im disgusted by the rise of anti-semitism, who has falsely targeted Soros. It's deeply deeply personal. "I'm constantly fought the alt-right & others who will spread racist lies and will keep doing so," he said.
After the Times article, other organizations also began re-evaluating their relationship with Definers. One of those was Crooked Media, which runs the popular political podcast Pod Save America. Mr. Miller is a frequent contributor to the podcast.
"Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor," "We Need to Get to the Bottom of Tim's Involvement in This Work," statement published to Twitter on Wednesday.
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