Facebook has ended its relationship with Definers Public Affairs, the consulting firm which cast George Soros as a force behind Facebook's critics
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook has ended its relationship with a Washington-based consulting firm, Definers Public Affairs, which spread disparaging information …
Context & Ripple Effects
The cut comes at the worst possible moment for Facebook in Washington: [[a:935711|Definers had been feeding reporters ammunition to paint senators grilling Sheryl Sandberg as hypocrites]], meaning the firm's work was aimed at the very lawmakers now scrutinizing the company. The termination is an attempt to sever the story before hearings compound it.
But the relationship's origins are already documented internally — Elliot Schrage's leaked memo took responsibility for hiring Definers and admitted the company asked the firm to investigate Soros — so cutting the contract addresses the symptom while the question of who inside Facebook commissioned the work remains open.
First-order effects
- Facebook loses its Washington opposition-research arm mid-crisis, weakening its ability to shape coverage of the congressional probes into its handling of disinformation and privacy.
- Sheryl Sandberg faces direct exposure: sources say she asked staff to research George Soros's finances even as she denied knowing Definers was hired, putting her testimony and standing at risk.
Second-order effects
- Other tech companies under similar scrutiny will face pressure to audit their own PR contracts, since association with smear tactics now carries reputational cost that outweighs the research value.
- Definers' remaining clients must decide whether to keep a firm whose methods have become the story, and journalists who received its material will re-examine which claims were planted rather than reported.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, opposition research by major platforms becomes a disclosure problem: expect calls for lobbying-style transparency rules covering paid media manipulation, not just campaign finance.
- Facebook's crisis playbook — deny, then quietly cut the vendor — is losing effectiveness as internal memos leak, pushing the company toward visible accountability measures like executive departures rather than contractor terminations.
The trend: Platform companies are being forced to treat political influence operations — including their own hired ones — as a regulated disclosure risk rather than standard Washington practice.