The president of George Soros’s philanthropy called for oversight of Facebook by U.S. lawmakers after the social media company confirmed it hired a controversial public relations outfit to research the billionaire financier.

Facebook’s departing policy and communications chief, Elliot Schrage, this week took responsibility for the hiring of Definers Public Affairs, a consulting firm and opposition-research firm that Facebook tasked with scrutinizing detractors.

“I knew and approved of the decision to hire Definers and similar firms,” Schrage said in an internal post, responding to a New York Times article last week that detailed Facebook’s hiring of Definers.

Schrage also said Facebook asked Definers to look into Soros after the liberal philanthropist called internet “monopolies” a “menace” in a January speech at the World Economic Forum. “We had not heard such criticism from him before and wanted to determine if he had any financial motivation,” Schrage wrote. “Definers researched this using public information.”

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