Facebook security chief reassigned amid feud over the company's role in 'spreading disinformation'

Facebook's chief security officer is leaving the company amid internal disagreements over how to handle the social network's role in spreading fake news and disinformation.

The New York Times reported Monday that current and former Facebook employees briefed on the matter flagged CSO Alex Stamos' departure from the company.

Unlike other top executives at the company, the Times reported, Stamos has long been an advocate for investigating Russian propaganda and other "disinformation" spread on Facebook.

The report noted that Stamos' daily responsibilities "were reassigned to others in December." He initially said he'd leave the company then, but the Times' internal sources said Stamos"was persuaded to stay through August to oversee the transition of his duties because executives thought his departure would look bad."

The CSO's security team previously had 120 employees, but since his duties were relegated to "Facebook’s product and infrastructure divisions," that number is now down to three, the Times reported.

UPDATE: After the Times' report came out, Stamos took to Twitter to deny their reporting, saying that "despite the rumors, I'm still fully engaged with my work at Facebook."