In a big oops for anyone in the journalistic space, a post that seemed to have all the makings of an ad titled "Facebook is Helping Ensure the Integrity of the 2020 Election?" ended up on Teen Vogue’s website as a regular news item Wednesday, according to Mashable. The 2,500-word post praised the good works of five Facebook workers and masqueraded itself as a "behind the scenes" peek at how the multibillion-dollar social media company is "taking measures to protect against foreign interference and stop the spread of misinformation.”
The shocker: It was actually written by Facebook executive Andrew Bosworth, according to The New York Times. Facebook has been the subject of intense scrutiny over its allowance of factually inaccurate political ads, and a host of privacy concerns. The media giant has received so much backlash that Rep. Maxine Waters took CEO Mark Zuckerberg to task in October when he was trying to hype his plans for Facebook's cryptocurrency. He instead was asked to respond to criticism about political ads. “It seems that a policy that allows politicians to lie, mislead and deceive would also allow Facebook to sell more ads to those politicians, thus making your company more money,” Waters told Zuckerberg.
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So imagine the blowback the magazine received from journalists alone when it seemed Teen Vogue was cozying up to the Zuckerberg-sponsored masterpiece and calling it news. But no need to imagine: journalist Emily Bell tweeted: “Condé Nast and Facebook - gatekeepers old and new - give lesson in how not to do publishing ... Glowing Facebook story pulled from Teen Vogue following serious WTFs.” BuzzFeed News writer Ryan Broderick tweeted: “Publishing this sort of uncritical corporate propaganda is especially noxious on a website like Teen Vogue.The website's demographic doesn't remember in a world without Facebook. To frame this as a fun guide to election integrity is shameful.”
Teen Vogue initially responded to criticism by including a note that clarified the post was indeed sponsored, but things only got messier from that point, Mashable reported.
The questionable web post then appeared to erroneously include the byline of Teen Vogue contributor Lauren Rearick, who told Mashable: "That isn't my byline. I didn't write this story." The piece was later pulled from the site. Facebook spokesperson Lisa Stratton told Business Insider in an email: "This piece is purely editorial. We pitched this to Teen Vogue and worked with their team on the piece over the past few months."