Facebook blasted by Soros foundation for ‘smear campaign’
Social media giant Facebook has reportedly severed ties with a public relations firm that allegedly linked its left wing critics to US billionaire George Soros.
A story in the New York Times revealed that Facebook had employed Definers, a Republican PR firm, to discredit activist protestors, in part by linking them to Soros.
The Open Society Foundation, which is backed by Soros, today published an open letter to Facebook chief executive Sheryl Sandberg expressing shock at Facebook’s “smear campaign” against Soros.
“There is a concerted right-wing effort the world over to demonise Mr Soros and his foundations… You are no doubt also aware that much of this hateful and blatantly false and Anti-Semitic information is spread by Facebook,” the society’s president Patrick Gaspard wrote.
“It’s been disappointing to see how you failed to monitor hate and misinformation on Facebook’s platform. To now learn that you are active in promoting these distortions is beyond the pale,” he added.
Liberal donor Soros is a hate figure on the right worldwide, with figures such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage and Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini lining up to criticise him.
Soros, who was a recent target of the alleged parcel bomber in the US, is also regularly at the centre of Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
Facebook has reportedly cut its links with Definers in the aftermath of the New York Times piece.
Facebook and Definers were contacted for comment.