Mark Zuckerberg vs. the Times

What's Next: Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives are fed up with The New York Times after weeks of what they see as overtly antagonistic coverage that betrays an anti-Facebook bias, several sources at the social media giant tell me.

• The frustration was rekindled this week after the Times bought a sponsored post on Facebook to promote "a step-by-step guide to breaking up with" Facebook and Instagram — a move sources likened to Facebook taking out an ad in the Times encouraging readers to cancel their subscriptions.

• The sponsored ad came after weeks of Times articles that cast Facebook as a reckless, data-hungry behemoth with little regard for user privacy or the integrity of American politics. These articles were aggressively promoted across the Times' social media accounts and in push notifications.

• Facebook sources believe some of the paper's reporters willfully ignored nuances about how the internet works in order to cast Facebook in the worst-possible light, either because the paper is hell-bent on crippling the social media network or because it is gunning for a Pulitzer Prize.

• Facebook spokesperson: "No comment."

The View from the Times: Asked to respond to the criticism, Times executive editor Dean Baquet told me Facebook was "a big company with unusual power that finds itself in the middle of some of the largest issues of the day — privacy and political meddling."

• As for the sponsored ad, Baquet said: "There is no connection between our coverage of Facebook and the company's business dealings with Facebook."

• "Many of the stories were done by the investigative team. Others were done by business news reporters who cover the company. The stories grew organically from the controversies surrounding Facebook and elections," Baquet said. "As the person who oversees the newsroom, the only discussions I've had with Facebook were about the stories."

The Big Picture: The New York Times is the vanguard of a new age of tech journalism in which reporters are taking a more aggressive and adversarial stance toward Silicon Valley and its leaders. Depending on where you stand, the new posture is either long overdue or a threat to the traditional standards of fair and impartial coverage.

Beginning of a trend? .... The Times is facing multiple charges of bias this week: In a new book, former executive editor Jill Abramson criticizes the paper for "unmistakably anti-Trump" coverage that runs afoul of its stated commitment to covering the news "without fear or favor."

• Some at Facebook believe you could easily substitute "anti-Facebook" for "anti-Trump."

Meanwhile ... Zuckerberg has halted his stock sales.