PALO ALTO, Calif., May 12 (UPI) -- Facebook has acknowledged hiring a public relations company to raise questions about Google's commitment to users' privacy.
A story in USA Today said Burston-Marsteller had launched a campaign on behalf of a company whose name was not disclosed. The PR giant was reportedly trying to interest the news media in stories about privacy problems with Google's Social Circle, which allows users to see public information about their contacts.
The Daily Beast identified the company late Wednesday as Facebook. Cnet then reported Facebook has admitted its role.
The two Internet giants have long had an uneasy relationship, with questions about how much they would share and how easy they would make it for users to move data from one to the other.
One of Burton-Marsteller's pitches to a blogger contained this language: "The American people must be made aware of the now immediate intrusions into their deeply personal lives Google is cataloging and broadcasting every minute of every day -- without their permission."
