Rob Leathern DecemberPaulReuters is leaving Facebook to work at Google. He joined the company in 2012, and quickly rose to the position of vice president and director of product. As vice president, Rob was responsible for the company’s political advertising policy, which limited the use of political ads and battled fake news.
Rob Leathern’s Departure from Facebook
Rob Leathern DecemberPaulReuters Chief of Advertising Integrity, Rob Leathern, has quit. His departure comes amid a series of red flags surrounding the company’s controversial ad policies. He oversaw the company’s ad policies for misinformation, fake news stories, and political ads. His departure was announced on Facebook’s internal network on Dec. 30. He said he plans to pursue a new career in consumer privacy.
The departure of Rob Leathern DecemberPaulReuters comes as the company faces tumultuous political headwinds in 2020. Facebook may consider banning political ads entirely, which could stifle the company’s growth. Furthermore, tightening the company’s policies may expose Facebook to increased regulatory scrutiny.
His Role at Facebook
Facebook’s business integrity team oversees political ads on its website, and Leathern’s team has failed to combat misinformation on its platform. Its political advertising policies have been criticized repeatedly for not doing enough to stop election misinformation, and Facebook has recently codified a loophole that allows politicians to lie about opponents in campaign ads. The company says the move was necessary to preserve the political discourse.
Public Face of Company’s Controversial AD Policies
While at Facebook, Leathern served as the public face of the company’s controversial ad policies. He had a long history in the ad tech industry, including as the CEO of Optimal, Inc., a company that contributed to building Facebook’s Ads API. He has extensive experience in advertising, consumer behavior, market research, real-time optimization, and user acquisition.
His work at Google
Rob Leathern is the new VP of privacy at Google, and he has promised to take all feedback internal. He also promises to keep local SEOs in the loop, and pointed them to a blog post he wrote about the company’s anti-spam efforts. Local SEOs are upset, and also Rob says he wants to work with them to address the problem.
Before joining Google, Rob Leathern was Facebook’s chief of advertising integrity, handling sensitive ad products and topics. He also served as a director of product management. Facebook hasn’t commented on his departure, but he announced it on its internal network. The company could not comment on the departure, but he said he would be working on issues related to consumer privacy.
His Move to Google
Rob Leathern DecemberPaulReuters, who was most recently the chief of advertising integrity at Facebook, has decided to move to Google as the VP of consumer privacy. He will work to improve the advertising policies of Google and also protect consumers’ privacy. His departure from Facebook comes amid growing concerns about the company’s use of user data. He previously led Facebook’s team to combat fake accounts and political advertising.
Final Words:
While at Facebook, Rob Leathern oversaw a team that enforced ads and business policies across the social network. The team also navigated the murky terrains of political advertising and Covid-19 misinformation. He has also been a spokesperson for Facebook on a number of issues, including the ban on political advertising on the site.
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