Sheryl Sandberg refutes ‘abhorrent’ allegations of Russian cover-up
Sheryl Sandberg has forcefully rejected allegations printed in the New York Times that she was involved in a cover-up of Russian attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election on the platform by first ignoring the issue and later trying to undermine external investigations.
Sheryl Sandberg refutes ‘abhorrent’ allegations of Russian cover-up
Facebook’s chief operating officer published a personal Facebook post, liked by Mark Zuckerberg. In the post, Sandberg admitted that she had been ‘slow’ to respond but added. “…But to suggest that we weren’t interested in knowing the truth, or we wanted to hide what we knew, or that we tried to prevent investigations, is simply untrue. The allegations saying I personally stood in the way are also just plain wrong.”
The forthright intervention sought to tackle a firestorm ignited by earlier press reports that both Zuckerberg and Sandberg had not prioritised internal investigations into potential misinformation campaigns at the time, choosing instead to seek ways of deflecting attention to the role of competitors instead.
At the root of these allegations is a claim that Facebook turned to PR firm Definers Public Affairs to take some of the heat out of the issue, which duly wrote dozens of articles drawing attention to Google and Apple.
More insidiously it has been suggested that Facebook sought to undermine criticism of its affairs by spreading the idea that Jewish financier George Soros was a lead among complainants, fueling ‘anti-Semitic’ bigotry.
Sandberg added: “I also want to address the issue that has been raised about a PR firm, Definers. We’re no longer working with them but 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. I have great respect for George Soros – and the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories against him are abhorrent.”
Facebook states that it ended its links with Definers on Wednesday evening but this is unlikely to stem a collapse in staff morale.
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