James Martin/ CNET.
Definers Public Affairs, a Washington PR company tangled up in the newest Facebook ordeal, on Friday stated it wasn’t worked with by the social media network as an opposition research study company.
A bombshell report by The New York Times on Wednesday raised concerns about how CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook leaders managed a series of scandals, consisting of Russian election meddling and the mishandling of user information by Cambridge Analytica The report stated the social media network had actually worked with Definers to assist ward off critics. The company attempted to connect anti-Facebook belief to billionaire George Soros by distributing a research study file and pushing press reporters to take a look at monetary ties in between Soros and groups that objected the tech business at congressional hearings in July, according to the Times.
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Facebook on Thursday said it had ended its contract with Definers. The social network also pushed back against the Times report saying that it contains “a number of inaccuracies.”
In a statement Friday on its work with Facebook, Definers said its main services for the social network were “basic media monitoring and public relations around public policy issues facing the company.” The company said it did provide “research and background information about critics — both on the left and the right” that was based on researching public records.
“To be clear: Definers was not hired by Facebook as an opposition research firm,” the statement reads. “That might be the sexy story for media outlets because several of us have spent years doing research and communications for high-stakes political campaigns, but that was not the scope of work we had for Facebook.”
The New York Times says it stands by its report.
“Our story is accurate and we stand by it,” said Danielle Rhoades Ha, vice president of communications for The Times, in an email on Friday. “The months-long investigation by a team of reporters was based on interviews with more than 50 sources including current and former Facebook executives and other employees, lawmakers and government officials, lobbyists and congressional staff members.”
On the heels of the release of the Times report, Facebook said it’s handing off editorial oversight to an independent board in 2019. And US Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, is reportedly looking into Facebook’s alleged use of Definers to battle its critics.
