New York (CNN) Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have spent much of Thursday swinging back after a New York Times investigation published Wednesday suggested that the company had not been forthcoming enough about Russian interference on its platform and reported that it had hired a firm that dug up dirt on its competitors.

Participating in a conference call with reporters Thursday that was meant to be about rules regarding how Facebook polices its platform, Zuckerberg instead had to focus mainly on the Times' story and reporters' questions about it.

He began the call by addressing the Times' story, acknowledging — in a line that has become something of a company mantra — that Facebook had been too slow to deal with the Russian disinformation problem on its platform in 2016, but saying that "to suggest we weren't interested in knowing the truth" was "simply untrue."

Facebook has spent a great deal of its time and energy over the past two years handling increasing scrutiny from the public and from Washington arising out of its inaction in 2016. One step it took during that period was to hire Definers Public Affairs, a DC-based conservative firm, which did PR work for Facebook — and dug up dirt on the company's competitors and its critics.

Zuckerberg said during the call that he only learned about the company's work with Definers when he read the Times' article.

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