Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told company leadership earlier this year that he plans to take more direct control of the social media giant in responding to scrutiny from Congress and the public, saying that the company is at war.
Zuckerberg told top employees at a June meeting that he needed to centralize decisionmaking in order to address several problems facing Facebook, the Wall Street Journal reported, an approach that has since caused some executives to leave.
[Read more: Americans turning on social media, most think it hurts democracy: Poll]
The switch also has caused tension with his longtime Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, according to the report.
Facebook Inc. has faced several issues since the 2016 presidential election, including questions over its role in allowing Facebook accounts and groups to attempt to influence elections, especially Russian bot accounts.
Earlier this year, the company also faced backlash after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which it was revealed that millions of users’ personal information had been compromised.
Last week, the New York Times reported that Facebook had a contract with a right-leaning public relations group that the publication claimed was attempting to link the anti-Facebook movement to Democrats, particularly liberal megadonor George Soros.
The 34-year-old CEO ended Facebook’s contract with the company, Definers Public Relations, Wednesday night, and on Thursday said that he and Sandberg were not aware of the relationship the social media company had with Definers.
The report claimed Facebook paid Definers to write articles that portrayed Facebook in a positive light. Definers released a statement Friday that indicated they were not paid to write such articles or do opposition research, but instead were hired to do media monitoring and public relations work.
The Journal’s report says that Zuckerberg expressed frustration during an employee question-and-answer session on Friday over the recent critical coverage of Facebook, calling that coverage “bullshit,” according to people familiar with the comments.
