US Edition 
Facebook confesses to Google smear bid
Facebook has been exposed as running a smear campaign against its giant US rival Google.
In a highly embarrassing mea culpa, the company said it had taken on an external PR agency Burson-Marsteller to try to place negative stories about the web searchbusiness.
Facebook hired Burson to place stories clandestinely that called Google’s privacy policy into question. The PR company approached well-known US blogger Christopher Soghoian, whose research is focused on online security, urging him to investigate Google’s privacy policy. In exchange, Burson said it would help him get the piece published on influential sites such as The Huffington Post.
In a statement, the PR company said it was a mistake to have taken on the assignment. “This was not at all standard operating procedure and is against our policies, and the assignment on those terms should have been declined.
“When talking to the media, we need to adhere to strict standards of transparency about clients, and this incident underscores the absolute importance of that principle.”
It is not known whether anyone at Facebook or Burson is to lose their jobs over the campaign.
The affair is deeply embarrassing for all involved, compounded by the fact Google is to hold its annual Zeitgeist Europe conference this weekend in London. Among those due to attend the event is Sir Martin Sorrell, whose advertising group WPP owns Burson.
Google and Facebook have been locked in competition for years in the battle for online traffic. The fight for clicks and customers has only increased with Google set to move into social media. Newly installed chief executive and Google co-founder, Larry Page, is supposedly working on a network called Google Social Circles.
It had been expected to launch at this week’s Google’s developer conference, yet no mention of the new venture was made.
Facebook has been reported to be concerned Google will use its data to create its own social network site.
A spokesman for Facebook said: “No 'smear’ campaign was authorised 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.
“We engaged Burson-Marsteller to focus attention on this issue, using publicly available information that could be independently verified by any media organisation or analyst. The issues are serious and we should have presented them in a serious and transparent way.”
Rosanna Fiske, chief executive of the Public Relations Society of America, described the incident as “an embarrassment” to both Facebook and Burson.
“This reflects poorly upon the global public relations profession. On the whole, public relations practitioners are highly ethical professionals, and our profession’s success and growing value to the business community reflects that. But in this one instance, Burson made a significant ethical lapse.”
Google declined to comment.