Mark Zuckerberg would like you to know that despite a scathing report in The New York Times, which depicts Facebook as a ruthless and selfish corporate behemoth, things are getting better—at least, the way he sees it.

In a lengthy call with reporters Thursday, and an equally lengthy "note" published on Facebook, the company's CEO laid out a litany of changes Facebook is making, designed to curb toxic content on the platform and provide more transparency into the decisions on content. But perhaps the most consequential update is that the Facebook News Feed algorithm will now try to limit the spread of sensationalist content on the platform, which represents a major change from how the social network traditionally has approached moderation. All of it is in service of restoring trust in a company whose reputation—and that of its leaders—has taken near constant body blows over the past two years.

"When you have setbacks like we’ve had this year, that’s a big issue, and it does erode trust, and it takes time to build that back," Zuckerberg said on the call. "Certainly our job is not only to have this stuff at a good level and to continually improve, but to be ahead of new issues. I think over the last couple of years that’s been one of the areas where we’ve been most behind, especially around the election issues."

These words come a day after the Times published a damning report that portrays Facebook as not merely behind on issues of election interference, as Zuckerberg suggested, but actively working to downplay what it knew about that interference. It argued that Facebook's executives, wary of picking sides in a partisan battle over Russian interference in the 2016 elections, aimed to minimize Russia's role in spreading propaganda on the platform. The story states that Facebook's former head of security, Alex Stamos, was chastised by the company's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, for investigating Russian actions without the company's approval and berated him again for divulging too much about it to members of Facebook's board.

In his remarks, Zuckerberg flatly denied this allegation. "We’ve certainly stumbled along the way, but to suggest that we weren't interested in knowing the truth or that we wanted to hide what we knew or that we tried to prevent investigations is simply untrue," he said. (Stamos, for his part, tweeted earlier on Thursday that he was “never told by Mark, Sheryl or any other executives not to investigate.”)

The Times story also alleges that Facebook waged a smear campaign against its competitors through an opposition research firm called Definers Public Relations. The firm repeatedly worked to tie Facebook's detractors, including groups like the Open Markets Institute and Freedom from Facebook, to billionaire George Soros. Critics say that in doing so, Facebook engaged with the same anti-Semitic tropes that have been used by white nationalists and other hate groups that regularly vilify Soros.

Zuckerberg denied having any personal knowledge of Definers' work with Facebook, and added that he and Sandberg only heard about the relationship on Wednesday. That's despite the fact that Definers often coordinated large-scale calls with the press on behalf of Facebook and its employees, and in at least one case, sat in on meetings between Facebook and the media.

After Zuckerberg read the story in the Times, he said Facebook promptly ended its relationship with the firm. "This type of firm might be normal in Washington, but it's not the type of thing I want Facebook associated with, which is why we’re no longer going to be working with them."