Facebook is suspected of hiring PR firm Burson-Marsteller to push negative stories about Google in the press, according to reports in the US. In particular questioning Google’s privacy policy.
The story came to light when US blogger Christopher Seghoian published emails sent to him by Burson-Marsteller which requested that he should investigate the search giant’s Social Circles service, which Facebook claims collects data without people having a way to view or control it. Facebook has confirmed that it hired the PR firm but denied that it intended it to be a smear campaign against Google.
A Facebook spokeswoman said: “No ’smear’ campaign was authorized or intended. Instead, we wanted third parties to verify that people did not approve of the collection and use of information from their accounts on Facebook and other services for inclusion in Google Social Circles, just as Facebook did not approve of use or collection for this purpose.”
Adrian G Stewart
