Facebook worked with a conservative firm that tried to find a link between Facebook critics and billionaire Democratic donor George Soros during its tumultuous year in the wake of Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
A lengthy New York Times report published Wednesday indicated that the social media company hired opposition-research firm Definers Public Affairs to keep tabs on media coverage. In 2017 after the scope of Russian election meddling on Facebook became more clear and the company was taking blow after blow from critics, it expanded Definers' role to include offensive measures.
One such measure was to have Definers place news stories that were critical of other tech companies such as Google and Apple. Some of the stories were published on the right-leaning NTK Network, the content of which is often picked up by other conservative news websites.
Regarding Soros, Definers sought to link him with an anti-Facebook group that held up anti-Semitic signs at a July Capitol Hill hearing attended by an executive from Facebook. The signs depicted the heads of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg on an octopus that encircled the Earth. The use of an octopus to depict Jews is an anti-Semitic tactic.
Definers distributed notes to reporters that urged them to investigate any links between Soros, whom some conservatives have labeled as anti-Semitic, and the Freedom from Facebook group that displayed the octopus signs.
The Times story documents the panic that enveloped Facebook when it became clear that Russia had used the social network to distribute fake news and propaganda in an attempt to cause political chaos in America ahead of the election.
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