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Mark Zuckerberg says he did not know about 'dark arts' PR firm accused of savaging Facebook's critics

Sheryl Sandberg, accused of leading an aggressive lobbying campaign against Facebook's critics, visits the US Congress in 2017 - Getty Images North America
Sheryl Sandberg, accused of leading an aggressive lobbying campaign against Facebook's critics, visits the US Congress in 2017 - Getty Images North America

Mark Zuckerberg has denied any knowledge of the "dark arts" public relations firm accused of leading an aggressive lobbying campaign against Facebook's critics in order to distract from its scandals.

Definers, a Washington-DC-based consulting firm specialising in opposition research, sent dossiers of information to journalists and sought to redirect their scrutiny towards Facebook's rivals, according to an investigation by the New York Times.

On a conference call with reporters on Thursday night, Mr Zuckerberg said he had not known about Facebook's relationship with Definers and that he had ended it as soon as he found out about it on Wednesday.

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But he defended Definers' attempt to finger George Soros, the American Jewish philanthropist who frequently features in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, as the force behind  a "broad anti-Facebook movement". 

It came after the Open Society Foundations, a non-profit group founded by Mr Soros, accused Facebook of "threatening the very values underpinning our democracy" by commissioning "vile propaganda" about him.

Mr Zuckerberg said: "The bottom line here though is as soon as I learned about this, I talked to our team and we are no longer working with this firm.... this type of firm might be normal in Washington, but it's not the kind of thing that I want Facebook associated with."

CEO Mark Zuckerberg (left), VP of Global Affairs and Communications Nick Clegg (centre), and COO Sheryl Sandberg. Nick Clegg is joining Facebook as VP, Global Affairs and Communications - Credit: Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg with Nick Clegg and Sheryl Sandberg Credit: Facebook

He also defended Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's longtime chief operating officer, saying she was also unaware of Facebook's work with Definers and that was doing "great work for Facebook". 

He said that Nick Clegg, Facebook's new head of global affairs, would lead a review into all Facebook's lobbying activity, reporting to Ms Sandberg.

According to the New York Times, it was Ms Sandberg, a former US Treasury official under Bill Clinton and well-known advocate for women in business, who led a campaign to neutralise Facebook's critics even as Mr Zuckerberg conducted a high-profile apology tour.

That allegedly involved watering down Facebook's public statements about Russian interference in the 2016 US election and feeding information to conservative media organisations through a Definers-run news site described by one former employee as "our in-house fake news shop". 

The scandal overshadowed a planned announcement that Facebook would set up a new appeals process allowing users who have had their content removed to challenge the decision before an independent body. 

Speaking to reporters, Mr Zuckerberg – who, like Ms Sandberg, is also Jewish – said he had "tremendous respect for George Soros", and that Facebook's intention in targeting him was only to show that some anti-Facebook activism was "not a spontaneous grassroots effort" but was "well-funded". 

He said that it was "simply untrue" that Facebook had ever sought to hide or block investigations into Russian interference and claimed that Facebook had never asked Definers to "spread misinformation".