The intense competition between Facebook and Google — Silicon Valley neighbors with similar scrappy roots as startups — has erupted into a full-blown rivalry, reports Associated Press technology writer Barbara Ortutay, on MSNBC.
News has surfaced that Facebook hired prominent PR firm Burson-Marsteller to try to plant stories harshly criticizing Google’s privacy practices in leading U.S. news outlets. The efforts backfired when the firm approached a blogger who not only declined the assignment, but went public with the offer.
Facebook’s efforts to remain an anonymous client of Burson-Marstellar violated the terms of service for users of its site.
