{"id":124652,"date":"2018-11-16T08:29:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T16:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=124652"},"modified":"2018-11-16T08:29:04","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T16:29:04","slug":"delay-deny-and-deflect-how-facebooks-leaders-fought-through-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=124652","title":{"rendered":"Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook\u2019s Leaders Fought Through Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the New York Times<\/a>: <\/p>\n

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…<\/p>\n

Eddie Vale, a Democratic public relations strategist who led the protest, later said the image was meant to evoke old cartoons of Standard Oil, the Gilded Age monopoly. But a Facebook official quickly called the Anti-Defamation League, a leading Jewish civil rights organization, to flag the sign. Facebook and other tech companies had partnered with the civil rights group since late 2017 on an initiative to combat anti-Semitism and hate speech online.<\/p>\n

That afternoon, the A.D.L. issued a warning from its Twitter account.<\/p>\n

\u201cDepicting Jews as an octopus encircling the globe is a classic anti-Semitic trope,\u201d the organization wrote. \u201cProtest Facebook \u2014 or anyone \u2014 all you want, but pick a different image.\u201d The criticism was soon echoed in conservative outlets including The Washington Free Beacon, which has sought to tie Freedom from Facebook to what the publication calls \u201cextreme anti-Israel groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

An A.D.L. spokeswoman, Betsaida Alcantara, said the group routinely fielded reports of anti-Semitic slurs from journalists, synagogues and others. \u201cOur experts evaluate each one based on our years of experience, and we respond appropriately,\u201d Ms. Alcantara said. (The group has at times sharply criticized Facebook, including when Mr. Zuckerberg suggested that his company should not censor Holocaust deniers.)<\/p>\n

Facebook also used Definers to take on bigger opponents, such as Mr. Soros, a longtime boogeyman to mainstream conservatives and the target of intense anti-Semitic smears on the far right. A research document circulated by Definers to reporters this summer, just a month after the House hearing, cast Mr. Soros as the unacknowledged force behind what appeared to be a broad anti-Facebook movement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the New York Times: 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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10015],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facebook"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t