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Facebook denies network knew about Russian meddling earlier than it admitted

The social network is the subject of a series of allegations in a new report by The New York Times.
The social network is the subject of a series of allegations in a new report by The New York Times. The social network is the subject of a series of allegations in a new report by The New York Times.

Facebook has refuted a string of allegations about its inner workings, including that its engineers knew about Russian activity on the site earlier than it previously admitted.

It is part of a report by The New York Times (NYT), which also alleges the social network used a public relations firm to discredit critics and deflect criticism onto other firms.

The report suggests that in the midst of intense scrutiny over Facebook’s practices following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, data breaches and concerns over fake news and other content on the site, Facebook used a public relations firm in the US to encourage the creation and circulation of news articles criticising rival firms.

It is also accused of more intensely debating posts by Donald Trump around a Muslim ban on arrivals into the US than other cases of free speech to protect its image, and only backing certain internet-related US legislation to improve relationships with politicians.

In response to the report, Facebook claimed it contained a “number of inaccuracies”, and denied suggestions former security boss Alex Stamos had been discouraged from investigating Russian activity.

It labelled them “not true” and pointed to a tweet from Mr Stamos earlier this year where he also denied the claim.

The company also denied the suggestion that public relations firm Definers was hired to write or encourage the creation of articles that aimed to discredit those who criticised the social network.

The NYT report suggests one tactic was to link activists and protesters with liberal financier George Soros.

“The New York Times is wrong to suggest that we ever asked Definers to pay for or write articles on Facebook’s behalf – or to spread misinformation,” Facebook said.

“Our relationship with Definers was well known by the media – not least because they have on several occasions sent out invitations to hundreds of journalists about important press calls on our behalf.”

However, the social network did admit that Definers told journalists to “look into” the funding of anti-Facebook activist group Freedom from Facebook.

“The intention was to demonstrate that it was not simply a spontaneous grassroots campaign, as it claimed, but supported by a well-known critic of our company,” the firm said, adding that it had now cut ties with Definers.

The report, which the NYT said was based on interviews with more than 50 people – including current and former employees – adds that Facebook’s support for sex trafficking legislation in the US, which made internet companies responsible for any such ads that appeared on their site, was part of the strategy to deflect criticism onto other firms.

Other internet companies had fought against the bill, the NYT report said, and Facebook hoped its stance would help “repair relations” with politicians in Washington DC.

Facebook denies the accusation, saying chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg supported it “because she believed it was the right thing to do, and that tech companies need to be more open to content regulation where it can prevent real world harm”.

The social network also pushed back on the suggestion that it had a different, more intense internal debate over then-US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s comments on a Muslim ban on arrivals into the US, and whether such comments breached the site’s terms of service.

The company said the claim the debate was contrasting to other issues around free speech was “wrong”.

However, one area where Facebook was not so forceful in its denial was the suggestions founder Mark Zuckerberg had told staff to stop using Apple devices – and use Google’s Android instead – after Apple chief executive Tim Cook criticised Facebook’s business model and practices.

Rather than refuting the claims, Facebook said it has “long encouraged our employees and executives to use Android because it is the most popular operating system in the world”.