Rob Leathern, director of product management, left Facebook on December 30
According to Facebook’s head of advertising integrity, who handled the company’s advertising products around sensitive topics such as politics and coronavirus misinformation, he left this week.
Rob Leathern, director of product management, said on Facebook’s internal network earlier this month that he would leave the company on December 30.
Facebook did not immediately respond to inquiries from DailyMail.com about his departure.
Leathern said in the internal report that he was ‘leaving Facebook to work on consumer privacy other than just advertising and social media’, without revealing where he was headed.
In a series of tweets Friday, Leathern wrote that he “had a tremendous experience on Facebook in a difficult, fun, fast-growing and influential role at the company that works with amazing people.”
“Although I will not be working directly on advertising, it will be a part of my job because I will remain in the technology / data / privacy space,” he continued.
Leathern said in the internal report that he ‘leaves Facebook to work on consumer privacy other than just advertising and social media’, without revealing where he is headed
Leathern promised to tell more about his next steps in ‘the next week or two’.
According to his LinkedIn page, he has been working at Facebook since February 2017. His previous experience included stints at LinkedIn and a startup he founded.
Leathern was often the public face of Facebook’s controversial political advertising policies.
Prior to the November 3 U.S. election, Facebook was heavily criticized for refusing to control political ads, leading to accusations that it was spreading misleading allegations and conspiracy theories on its platforms.
Leathern tweeted in November that Facebook did not “have the technical ability to enable short-term political advertising by the state or by advertisers”.
After that, Facebook lifted a temporary ban on political advertising in Georgia before the end of January 5, which will determine which party controls the US Senate.
Asked what has changed since Leathern’s tweet, a Facebook spokesman said the company had decided to implement a temporary solution where advertisers could be manually enabled to run ads.
The ban on political advertising in other states will remain, the social media giant said in a blog post. A Facebook spokesperson did not want to say when this overall ban will be lifted.
Leathern tweeted in November that Facebook does not “have the technical ability to enable short-term political advertising by state or by advertiser”.
After that, Facebook lifted a temporary ban on political ads in Georgia before the end of January 5, which will determine which party controls the US Senate
Both Facebook and Google took a break from political advertising after the presidential election as part of measures to combat misinformation and other abuses on the sites.
Google lifted its halt last month, saying the post-election period was not a ‘sensitive event’.
Facebook product manager Sarah Schiff wrote in the blog post that the company had received feedback over the past few weeks from ‘experts and advertisers across the political spectrum’ about the importance of expressing votes and using our tools to reach voters. reached before the run-off elections in Georgia. ‘
In the blog, Schiff said that Facebook “will give priority to advertisers with direct involvement in these elections, including the campaigns, state and local election officials, and political and national political parties.”
Leathern leaving the company comes just weeks after Facebook in a series of full-page newspaper ads complained about the upcoming changes on the iPhone, which according to the social media giant will destroy small businesses that rely on targeted ads – and the others technology giant of anti-competitive behavior.
At the heart of the issue are changes to Apple’s iOS 14.4, which will take effect next year and require users to give permission for apps to track it for advertising purposes. Facebook says Apple’s own personalized advertising platform will be released from the new fast-track requirement the iPhone maker plans to impose on other companies.
Facebook has accused Apple of being competitive with the changes, which they say will turn small businesses away from customers in dire need.
But Facebook has also been at the center of major antitrust lawsuits, including one by the Federal Trade Commission and in less than 48 states.
The FTC accuses the social media giant of abusing its dominance in the market.
‘The action of Facebook to entrench and maintain its monopoly to deny consumers the benefits of competition. Our goal is to bring back Facebook’s competitive edge and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can flourish, ‘said Ian Conner, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, in a statement.
As a result, the FTC is seeking a permanent warrant requiring Facebook to sell its assets and break them up effectively. These assets include Instagram, which he bought for $ 1 billion in 2012, and WhatsApp, which he bought in 2014 for $ 19 billion.