Rob Leathern, Facebook chief of advertising integrity who handled the company’s ad products around sensitive subjects such as politics and coronavirus misinformation, left the company earlier this week. According to Reuters, Rob had mentioned his departure on Facebook’s internal network earlier in December.
On 2 January, Rob tweeted his departure and mentioned he was moving to work on consumer privacy beyond ads and social media without mentioning where he was heading.
Rob was often the public face of the company’s controversial political advertising policies. Prior to the Nov. 3 U.S. election, Facebook was heavily criticized for allowing misleading claims and conspiracy theories to spread widely on its platforms.
In November, Leathern had tweeted that Facebook did not have “the technical ability in the short term to enable political ads by state or by advertiser.” Subsequently, Facebook lifted a temporary post-election ban on political ads in Georgia ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
According to Reuters, Facebook could not immediately be reached for comment.
Main photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash
MARKETING Magazine is not responsible for the content of external sites.
The Malaysian Marketing Conference & Festival 2024 at the Sime Darby Convention Centre is a TWO-day marketing event for all those in Marketing, Media, Advertising, PR, Digital, Data, and more….
The experience is on May 15 & 16, with Keynote Speakers, multiple tracks or Breakaway Sessions hosted by our booth partners who will show you the latest in the industry.
