Facebook caught out as smear campaign against Google exposed

(AP)

In the good old days, Mark Zuckerberg might register disdain for business rivals by turning up to a meeting in pyjamas, or deciding to "unfriend" them on his social network. Not any more. People who interfere with his plans for world domination are now more likely to find themselves on the wrong end of a secret dirty tricks campaign.

Facebook was forced to admit yesterday that it hired a public relations firm to plant negative stories against its Silicon Valley rival, Google. It was caught red-handed after an astonished technology blogger published transcripts of his email exchange with an employee of the blue-chip PR firm Burson-Marsteller.

The messages show Burson-Marsteller attempting to persuade the blogger, Chris Soghoian, to criticise Google's new networking tool, Social Circle, for alleged "violations of user privacy". The PR firm offered to ghost-write a comment article on the issue for Mr Soghoian, which it would attempt to place on popular websites such as The Huffington Post, Politico, and The Washington Post.

"The American people must be made aware of the now immediate intrusions into their deeply personal lives Google is cataloguing and broadcasting every minute of every day, without their permission," wrote the PR firm's employee, John Mercurio.

Mr Soghoian wasn't so sure. Stunned by the clumsy effort at media manipulation, he promptly accused Mr Mercurio of attempting to "make a mountain out of a molehill". Shortly afterwards, he decided to post the emails online.

It was then only a matter of time before Facebook's involvement in the affair came to light. Yesterday, in response to an inquiry from the Daily Beast website, the company sheepishly confessed to the smear campaign, claiming it was inspired by "concerns that Google may be improperly using data".

Burson-Marsteller also issued an apology. "Now that Facebook has come forward, we can confirm that we undertook an assignment for that client," it read. "Whatever the rationale, this was not at all standard operating procedure and is against our policies, and the assignment on those terms should have been declined."

Dirty tricks are also the latest sign of growing rivalry between Facebook and Google. Despite their sandal-wearing ethos, the internet giants are engaged in a battle for future online dollars. Google has pledged to aggressively break into the social networking market.