Not to me. That’s pretty much how I expect Facebook to operate these days.
Sadly, it’s not just Facebook. Pretty much every time any article posted on HN points out how Company X is misbehaving the thread is flooded with “But... but... Company Y does it, too!” It’s like the SV bubble falls back on the logic of a five-year-old whenever they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
This episode is a win-win.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/14/facebook-hired-pr-firm-that-...
> Facebook expanded its work with Definers Public Affairs, a Washington public relations firm, in October 2017 after enduring a years-worth of external criticism over its handling of Russian interference on its social network.
> Definers Public Affairs wrote dozens of articles criticizing Google and Apple for their business practices while downplaying the impact of Russia's misinformation campaign on Facebook.
> Facebook also used the firm to push the idea that liberal financier George Soros was behind a growing anti-Facebook movement.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/technology/facebook-defin...
> Definers began doing some general communications work, such as running conference calls for Facebook. It also undertook more covert efforts to spread the blame for the rise of the Russian disinformation, pointing fingers at other companies like Google.
> A key part of Definers’ strategy was NTK Network, a website that appeared to be a run-of-the-mill news aggregator with a right-wing slant. In fact, many of NTK Network’s stories were written by employees at Definers and America Rising, a sister firm, to criticize rivals of their clients, according to one former employee not allowed to speak about it publicly. The three outfits share some staff and offices in Arlington, Va.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/facebook-busted-in-clumsy-smea...
> The social network secretly hired a PR firm to plant negative stories about the search giant, The Daily Beast's Dan Lyons reveals—a caper that is blowing up in their face, and escalating their war.
Surely there must have been more to their contingency plan? They have great engineers and I'm surprised there wasn't more than a PR response up their sleeve. Just for example, in retrospect, why did they use the mainline Facebook iOS enterprise certificate to sign this app rather than a cert from one of their subsidiaries or acquisitions -- wouldn't that have de-risked a bit?