REUTERS: Facebook Inc.’s head of advertising integrity, which handled the company’s advertising results around sensitive topics such as politics and coronavirus misinformation, stepped up this week, according to an insider company post that Reuters watched Friday.
Rob Leathern, director of product management, said earlier this month on Facebook’s internal network that he would be leaving the company on December 30. His previous career was not reported.
Facebook could not be immediately reached for comments.
Leathern said in the post that he was “leaving Facebook to work on user privacy beyond just ads and social media,” without disclosing where he headed.
Leathern was often a public opponent of the company’s controversial political advertising policies. Prior to the U.S. November 3 election, Facebook was heavily criticized for allowing false claims and conspiracy theories to spread widely on its platforms.
In November, Leathern tweeted that “Facebook did not have the short-term technical capability to enable political ads by the state or by an advertiser.” Facebook subsequently lifted a temporary ban following the election on political ads. the Georgia ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff that will decide which party controls the U.S. Senate.
(Reporting by Katie Paul; writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by Sandra Maler)