Zuck vs. Cook: Look which sites carried Facebook's water

According to the New York Times, Tim Cook’s criticisms infuriated Mark Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg’s petulant order that Facebook’s management team swap their iPhones for Androids got the most press (for example here), but what interested me was Facebook’s counter-offensive, staged through the media. From the NYTimes:

On a conservative news site called the NTK Network, dozens of articles blasted Google and Apple for unsavory business practices. One story called Mr. Cook hypocritical for chiding Facebook over privacy, noting that Apple also collects reams of data from users.

The rash of news coverage was no accident: NTK is an affiliate of Definers, sharing offices and staff with the public relations firm in Arlington, Va. Many NTK Network stories are written by staff members at Definers or America Rising, the company’s political opposition-research arm, to attack their clients’ enemies. While the NTK Network does not have a large audience of its own, its content is frequently picked up by popular conservative outlets, including Breitbart.

I couldn’t find a Breitbart hit, but a few minutes on Google turned up these headlines, starting with the work of Facebook’s operatives at the NTK Network:

• NTK Network: Data Expert: Apple CEO Hypocritical in Criticism of Facebook
• Business Insider: A former Facebook executive called out Apple CEO Tim Cook’s hypocrisy over privacy.
• The Verge: Mark Zuckerberg calls Tim Cook’s comments on Facebook ‘extremely glib’
• BGR: Mark Zuckerberg was prepared to call out Tim Cook and Apple for being hypocrites
• National Legal and Policy Center: Apple CEO Tim Cook Whitewashes His Hypocrisy at Duke
• Naked Security/Sophos: Former Facebook security chief calls out Apple for privacy hypocrisy
• Press From: A former Facebook executive called out Apple CEO Tim Cook’s hypocrisy over privacy
• Archy news nety: A former Facebook manager called Apple CEO Tim Cook’s hypocrisy about privacy

Don’t miss Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis.

UPDATE: Facebook hit a 52-week low today.