Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied having anything to do with his company’s alleged commissioning of an opposition research company to discredit anti-Facebook activists by linking them to socialist billionaire George Soros.

A report published by the New York Times on Wednesday claimed Facebook had hired Definers Public Affairs, an opposition research company led by Romney-Ryan 2012 and Jeb! Bush 2016 alumni, to discredit critics of Facebook, including conservative commentators Diamond and Silk.

“I learned about this relationship when I read this New York Times piece yesterday,” Zuckerberg declared. “I have tremendous respect for George Soros.”

“Someone on our comms team must have hired them,” he continued, claiming Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg was also unaware of the partnership.

Zuckerberg added, however, that anti-Facebook activism “was not a spontaneous grassroots effort, it was well-funded.”

In response to the New York Times report, Soros’ Open Society Foundation called out Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, claiming the social network’s “methods threaten the very values underpinning our democracy.”

Their full statement is available on social media:

Open Society President @patrickgaspard's letter to @facebook's @sherylsandberg about their smear campaign against George Soros & us as reported by @nytimes: https://t.co/YJvCXYWXKm "Your methods threaten the very values underpinning our democracy." pic.twitter.com/X5Q55MkxVR — Open Society Foundations (@OpenSociety) November 15, 2018

The revelations about targetting George Soros were just one of several major revelations in the New York Times piece.