Facebook Inc. quickly responded to the scathing report published by the New York Times Wednesday, stating the story included a number of inaccuracies.

In a post on Thursday, Facebook denied that it knew about Russian activity on the platform as early as 2016 and was slow to respond, while the company also denied the allegation that former Chief Security Office Alex Stamos was discouraged from looking into such activity.

As for Mark Zuckerberg being “infuriated” over Tim Cook’s comments that Facebook exploits its own customers, Facebook said Cook “has consistently criticized our business model and Mark has been equally clear he disagrees.”

The post added that this wasn’t the reason Facebook staff had been told to use Android phones. It wasn’t a matter of sour grapes, but the fact that employees are encouraged to use Android because it’s “the most popular operating system in the world.”

Facebook outright denied that public relations firm Definers Public Affairs had been hired to write positive articles about the company during the time it was enmeshed in scandals.

While Facebook admitted that Definers was asked to look into the anti-Facebook group “Freedom from Facebook,” that was only “to demonstrate that it was not simply a spontaneous grassroots campaign, as it claimed, but supported by a well-known critic of our company.” Facebook added, “To suggest that this was an anti-Semitic attack is reprehensible and untrue.”

It was also said in the initial report that Facebook had hired Definers to look into other firms such as Apple Inc. and Google LLC to take some heat off itself.

“It is wrong to suggest that we have ever asked Definers to pay for or write articles on Facebook’s behalf, or communicate anything untrue,” a Facebook spokesperson said on Thursday. On the same day, however, Facebook cut all ties with Definers.

It was also said that Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg were not always aware of the work being done by Definers. Zuckerberg even said he wasn’t aware of when it had been hired. “Someone on our communications team must have hired them,” he said.

In a conference call with reports Thursday, Zuckerberg said, “The reality of running a company of more than 10,000 people is that you’re not going to know everything that’s going on.”

Nonetheless, The New York Times reported Thursday that activists have already filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission over Facebook’s privacy policies, while decrying Sandberg’s alleged campaign to attack opponents of the social network.

Photo: Alessio Jacona/Flickr