Uncommon for the agency to not disclose who their client is with this kind of request (ghost writing an op-ed under the byline of an expert).

BM offered a mea culpa today that notes as much:

Now that Facebook has come forward, we can confirm that we undertook an assignment for that client.

The client requested that its name be withheld on the grounds that it was merely asking to bring publicly available information to light and such information could then be independently and easily replicated by any media. Any information brought to media attention raised fair questions, was in the public domain, and was in any event for the media to verify through independent sources.

Whatever the rationale, this was not at all standard operating procedure and is against our policies, and the assignment on those terms should have been declined. When talking to the media, we need to adhere to strict standards of transparency about clients, and this incident underscores the absolute importance of that principle.

Source: http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/b-m-says-facebook-assign...