Departing comms chief takes blame
The outgoing head of Facebook's communications team on Wednesday took responsibility for the controversial hiring of a conservative consulting firm accused of using "black ops" style techniques, acknowledging critics including investor George Soros were targeted.
The announcement by Elliot Schrage, who said in June he was stepping down, came after Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg has pledged a "thorough" review of its use of Definers to deflect criticism from the social networking giant.
She and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg maintain they were surprised by a New York Times story last week that said the social network was using Definers to link social network critics to liberal financier Soros.
The Hungarian-born US financier and philanthropist is a favorite target of nationalists and anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists.
Schrage taking the hit for the controversy was seen by some as convenient, since he has previously said he was leaving the social network after working there for more than a decade to start a new chapter in his life.
Definers began looking into Soros after the philanthropist labelled Facebook a "menace to society" in a speech at Davos early this year, according to Schrage.
Zuckerberg said Facebook stopped using Definers the day the New York Times story was published. The post came a day after Zuckerberg said he has no plans to resign, sounding defiant after a rough year for the social platform.
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