All that he admitted just before Thanksgiving when no one noticed it.

On the eve of Thanksgiving, Facebook posted an article on its blog in which operations director Sheryl Sandberg and outgoing communications manager Elliot Schrage admitted to having failed in their work at the company's research company. the Republican opposition called Definers. The previous week, the New York Times reported in a bomb investigation that the company hired Definers to create media stories linking anti-Facebook protesters to liberal billionaire George Soros and criticizing his competitors for unethical business practices. Facebook broke ties with Definers after the report, but the company rebuffed the investigation claiming it contained "a number of inaccuracies."

The company now confirms that much of what the Times has reported is true, at least as far as Definers is concerned. In the post, Schrage revealed that he had decided to appeal to Definers and was partially directing his efforts on behalf of the company. "Some of this work is termed opposition research, but I think it would be irresponsible and unprofessional for us not to understand the background and potential conflicts of interest of our critics." Schrage wrote. "This work can be used internally to inform our messages and, if necessary, to be shared with journalists." Immediately after the Times article, Sandberg and his CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, both claimed that they did not know that Facebook had hired Definers. Zuckerberg also sought to distance Facebook from Definers by calling it a typical "D.C. type company" and hinting that he did not agree with his tactics. However, Schrage said in his message: "Mark asked us to re-evaluate how we work with communication consultants. It's not about Definers. It's about us, not about them. "

Schrage, who had announced his departure in June, also admitted that Facebook's communications team had actually asked Definers to "do the work" on George Soros, a common target of extreme anti-Semitic attacks. right. According to the Times, the newspaper Definers had asked reporters to look for financial links between the Soros family and Freedom from Facebook, a rights coalition calling on the government to break the social network. Schrage claimed that Facebook had asked Definers to examine the billionaire liberal in reaction to a speech in Davos, in which he described the company as a "threat to society". He also said the communications team had also asked Definers to look into Freedom from Facebook funding to try to prove that the coalition "was not just a spontaneous popular movement."

Schrage finally hinted that he was unhappy about how the Facebook communication team had been scapegoated as a result of the Times' article. "Many members of the communications team feel attacked by the press and even by their colleagues," he wrote. "I am deeply disappointed that so many internal discussions and fingerings have become public. It's a serious threat to our culture and our ability to work together in these difficult times. "

Sandberg added a short note to the bottom of Schrage's message in which she also testified for the communications team and took responsibility for her work with PR agencies, writing: "I really believe we have a world-class communications team and I want to acknowledge the tremendous pressure on the team over the past year. "

Sandberg also clarified how well she knew the work of Definers. The day after the Times published his investigation, Sandberg wrote in an article on Facebook: "I did not know we hired [Definers] or on the work they were doing, but I should have done it. In the Thanksgiving-Eve blog post, Sandberg however clarified that she did not remember having worked with Definers, but that some of her papers had crossed over on her office. "Some of their work was incorporated into the documents that were presented to me and I received a small number of emails in which Definers was referenced," she revealed.

Sandberg also pointed out that Facebook's Soros work was not meant to be anti-Semitic. "Being Jewish is an essential part of my personality and our society is firmly opposed to hate," she wrote. "The idea that our work has been interpreted as anti-Semitic is for me odious and deeply personal."

Businesses and politicians often post potentially damaging information during the holidays, when journalists and their audiences risk being distracted. On Friday, for example, the Trump administration released a report explaining how climate change will cost the United States hundreds of billions of dollars over the next few decades.