[ad_1]
Elliot Schrage, outgoing boss of Facebook, responsible for politics and communications, said being held responsible for hiring a controversial public relations firm whose attacks against his critics led to accusations of Anti-Semitism – and acknowledged that it was Facebook that had headed the firm go after George Soros.
TechCrunch got an internal memo that Schrage sent to his Facebook colleagues about the controversy, in which he stated that the hiring of Definers was his responsibility and he apologized for "my own failure ". Facebok then republished its full memo, as well as the response of Operations Director Sheryl Sandberg in her public press room.
"The responsibility for these decisions lies with the management of the communications team – it's me." Mark [Zuckerberg] and Sheryl [Sandberg] I've trusted to handle this without controversy, "he wrote.
"I knew and approved the decision to hire Definers and similar companies.I should have known the decision to expand their mandate.In the last decade, I've built a management system that relies on teams to raise problems if they are uncomfortable with any project, the value it will bring or the risks it creates. failed here and I'm sorry I let you down, I regret my own failure here, "wrote Schrage.
Definers, a public relations and opposition research firm, has been under scrutiny since the publication of a New York Times survey that explains how the firm has tried to discredit Facebook's critics by linking them billionaire financier George Soros, a Jew. Line of attack that has been criticized as anti-Semitic.
Do you work on Facebook? Do you have a tip? Contact this reporter via Signal or WhatsApp at +1 (650) 636-6268 using a non-desktop phone, e-mail [email protected], Telegram or WeChat at robaeprice or Twitter DM at @robaeprice. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg denied any prior knowledge that Facebook was working with Definers, but instead blamed the communications team for the problem. But in an answer to Schrage, also obtained by TechCrunch, Sandberg conceded that "some of their work was incorporated into the documents that were presented to me and that I received a small number of emails where Definers was referenced", even though apparently she did not remember it. .
In his memo, Schrage said Facebook had asked the Definers to investigate George Soros. "In January 2018, investor and philanthropist George Soros attacked Facebook during a speech in Davos, calling us" a threat to society. "We'd never heard such criticism of his on the other hand, and we wanted to determine if he had any financial motivation. "The definers have researched this by using public information," he wrote.
"Later, when the" Freedom from Facebook "campaign appeared as a so-called grassroots coalition, the team asked the Definers to help understand the groups behind them. Soros was funding a number of coalition members, preparing documents and distributing them to the press to show that it was not just a spontaneous popular movement.
Schrage's ownership of the latest scandal could help protect Zuckerberg and Sandberg from some of the consequences. Sandberg has been subjected to scrutiny after the latest controversies of the company. Some investors on Facebook have now asked if they should worry about leaving. Zuckerberg said she's not going anywhere.
Now read:
[ad_2]
Source link
