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Zuckerberg 'Didn't Know' Facebook Hired PR Firm That Reportedly Smeared Soros

© AP Photo / Francois MoriFacebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg, arrives to meet France's President Emmanuel Macron after the "Tech for Good" Summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Wednesday, May 23, 2018. French President Emmanuel Macron seeks to persuade Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other internet giants to discuss tax and data protection issues at a Paris meeting set to focus on how they could use their global influence for the public good
Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg, arrives to meet France's President Emmanuel Macron after the Tech for Good Summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Wednesday, May 23, 2018. French President Emmanuel Macron seeks to persuade Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other internet giants to discuss tax and data protection issues at a Paris meeting set to focus on how they could use their global influence for the public good - Sputnik International
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Zuckerberg's statement came on the heels of an explosive report, which claimed that Facebook paid a research firm to press the media into examining the financial connections between Facebook critics and George Soros.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has denied knowledge of his company's ties with Definers Public Affairs, a DC-based consulting firm that ostensibly sought to discredit critics of Facebook by tying them to George Soros.

"Look, I learned about this reading in The New York Times yesterday," the 34-year-old billionaire said in a conference call with reporters on Thursday. "As soon as I read about this in The New York Times, I got on the phone with our team and we're no longer working with this firm."

"The bottom line on this is the intention was not to attack an individual, but to demonstrate that a group that was saying that it was — spontaneously came up as a grassroots effort was in fact funded by — just was not a spontaneous grassroots effort. It was well funded."

READ MORE: Facebook Denies Hiding Russian Activity Ahead of 2016 US Presidential Election

"I have tremendous respect for George Soros, even though we disagree on the impact and the importance of the internet overall," Mark Zuckerberg claimed, adding that Facebook has terminated ties with the firm.

In this April 11, 2018 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pauses while testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington - Sputnik International
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His comments came hours after the NYT said that Definers had attempted to cast billionaire George Soros as the founder of anti-Facebook groups such as Freedom from Facebook and urged reporters to look into the financial connections between Soros and these groups.

The Soros-funded NGO Open Society Foundations, an international grant-making network promoting democratic political movements and liberal values, had delivered a stinging rebuke to Facebook following the report. The OSF's director, Patrick Gaspard, described the purported smear campaign as "reprehensible" and "threatening the very values underpinning our democracy".

Facebook officials insisted in a corporate blog that the platform had not asked Definers to spread misinformation and that the firm had not pressed reporters to examine the funding of Facebook critics.

However, it seems that Facebook's credibility has been affected in the scandal, with social media users claiming that Zuckerberg's response was 'too little, too late.'

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