Geenstijl

We hebben er niet voor doorgeleerd, maar beleggingsfonds GeenGeld adviseert bindend Facebook-aandelen te shorten. Het was al een stervend medium, toen het Cambridge Analytics-schandaal en NU deze nog veel ziekere onthulling door de New York Times. Facebook heeft het door Republikeinen opgerichte pr-bureau Definers Public Affairs ingeschakeld om hun reputatieschade in te perken, en wel door pogingen publieke woede richting 'concurrenten' te schuiven en critici zwart te maken. 

En dat nam blijkbaar vrij doodzieke vormen aan. "Facebook employed a Republican opposition-research firm to discredit activist protesters, in part by linking them to the liberal financier George Soros*. It also tapped its business relationships, lobbying a Jewish civil rights group to cast some* criticism of the company as anti-Semitic." 

En vervolgens werd volgens de NYT gewoon een serieuze beschimpingscampagne tegen Google en Apple opgetuigd. "Then Facebook went on the offensive. (...) On a conservative news site called the NTK Network, dozens of articles blasted Google and Apple for unsavory business practices. One story called Mr. Cook hypocritical for chiding Facebook over privacy, noting that Apple also collects reams of data from users. Another played down the impact of the Russians’ use of Facebook. The rash of news coverage was no accident: NTK is an affiliate of Definers, sharing offices and staff with the public relations firm in Arlington, Va. Many NTK Network stories are written by staff members at Definers or America Rising, the company’s political opposition-research arm, to attack their clients’ enemies. While the NTK Network does not have a large audience of its own, its content is frequently picked up by popular conservative outlets, including Breitbart."

Doodziek gewoon. Het liberal veneer van Facebook is dus blijkbaar dun genoeg om:

- Critici in een kwaad daglicht te stellen door hen aan te merken als bondgenoot van opper-liberal Soros.
- Een hard-rechts spinbedrijf in huren om op een fopfront-medium beschimpende artikelen te schrijven over Google en Apple als de onderstaanden, niet omdat ze uw inkomsten bedreigen, maar louter om de aandacht naar hen te verschuiven.

De NYT schrijft dat hun bevindingen tot stand zijn gekomen "based on interviews with more than 50 people. They include current and former Facebook executives and other employees, lawmakers and government officials, lobbyists and congressional staff members. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity because they had signed confidentiality agreements, were not authorized to speak to reporters or feared retaliation."

Facebook heeft vandaag in een blogpost gereageerd, en heeft vannacht de contracten met Definers verbroken:

"Lastly we wanted to address the issue of Definers, who we ended our contract with last night. The New York Times is wrong to suggest that we ever asked Definers to pay for or write articles on Facebook’s behalf – or to spread misinformation. Our relationship with Definers was well known by the media – not least because they have on several occasions sent out invitations to hundreds of journalists about important press calls on our behalf. Definers did encourage members of the press to look into the funding of “Freedom from Facebook,” an anti-Facebook organization. The intention was to demonstrate that it was not simply a spontaneous grassroots campaign, as it claimed, but supported by a well-known critic of our company. To suggest that this was an anti-Semitic attack is reprehensible and untrue."

We zeggen het jongens, shorten die zooi. Met zulke capriolen komen mensen niet weg. "The correction is coming".