Investors are calling on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to step down following a report a conservative consulting firm used 'black ops' style techniques to deflect criticism from the social networking giant.
Jonas Kron, senior vice president at Trillium Asset Management which owns an £8.5m stake in Facebook, called on Zuckerberg to step down as board chairman, telling The Telegraph: 'Facebook is behaving like it's a special snowflake. It's not. It is a company and companies need to have a separation of chair and CEO.'
Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg on Friday pledged a 'thorough' review of its use of a conservative consulting firm.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says an independent body will make some of the tough calls on what kinds of content is inappropriate or abusive on the social network
Sandberg dismissed a suggestion reported by NBC News that Definers Public Affairs acted as a 'fake news' operation to help Facebook deal with a public relations crisis over its handling of Russian misinformation.
'We absolutely did not pay anyone to create fake news. That, they have assured me, was not happening,' Sandberg told CBS This Morning.
'And again, we're doing a thorough look into what happened but they have assured me that we were not paying anyone to either write or promote anything that was false. And that's very important.'
She said she was unaware Facebook was working with Definers.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday he too was in the dark about the firm, which according to a New York Times investigation sought to link Facebook critics to liberal financier George Soros.
The Hungarian-born US financier and philanthropist is a favorite target of nationalists and anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists.
Sandberg said Facebook was no longer working with Definers but added that 'at the time, they were trying to show that some of the activity against us that appeared to be grassroots also had major organizations behind them.'
'I did not know we hired them or about the work they were doing, but I should have,' she in a post on her Facebook page.
'I have great respect for George Soros -- and the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories against him are abhorrent.'
- 'Black ops' methods -
Soros is a founder of the Open Society Institute, whose president Patrick Gaspard stepped up criticism of Facebook in an interview Thursday.
'There are broad questions about the role that Facebook is playing in the integrity of our elections, our democracy,' Gaspard told National Public Radio.
'And frankly now that we know that they ran this black ops operation, there are questions about why they're following the model of people like Vladimir Putin. This is profoundly dangerous and disturbing.'
NBC News reported that a former employee of Definers, who asked not to be identified, described a website operated by the consulting group as an 'in-house fake news shop' that sought to push stories into mainstream media.
A letter to Zuckerberg signed by four Democratic senators expressed concern over the latest revelations and raised the prospect of tough regulation of social media.
'We are gravely concerned by recent reports indicating that your company used contractors to retaliate against or spread intentionally inflammatory information about your critics,' said the letter from Senators Amy Klobuchar, Mark Warner, Chris Coons and Richard Blumenthal.
'In addition, the staggering amount of data that Facebook has collected on both its users and people who have not subscribed to or consented to use of the platform, raises concern that the company could improperly or illegally use its vast financial and data resources against government officials and critics seeking to protect the public and our democracy.'
Definers said in a statement Friday it did 'basic media monitoring and public relations around public policy issues' for Facebook, as it does for many clients, and that it 'was not hired by Facebook as an opposition research firm.'
'A fraction of our work with Facebook included providing research and background information about critics -- both on the left and the right,' the consulting group said on its website.
'This practice, standard across many industries, is based on researching public records and databases available to anyone.'
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/11/17/investors-call-on-mark-zuckerberg-to-resign-as-chairman-following-damaging-report/
Main photo article Investors are calling on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to step down following a report a conservative consulting firm used ‘black ops’ style techniques to deflect criticism from the social networking giant.
Jonas Kron, senior vice president at Trillium Asset Management which owns an ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/16/02/wire-6254986-1542335644-892_634x430.jpg
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