LET’S ALL BE FRIENDS
Facebook’s stealthy move vs. regulation
Facebook is leading a behind-thescenes effort to launch a political-advocacy group aimed at taking on the growing chorus of lawmakers and regulators calling for reining in Silicon Valley, according to a report.
The organization, called American Edge, will work to gain support on Capitol Hill through “a barrage of advertising and other political spending,” The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
American Edge will argue in its ads that Silicon Valley is a critical piece of the US economy, as well as a beacon of free speech, three people familiar with plans for the organization told the paper.
The group formed in December and registered an accompanying foundation last month in Virginia. In a statement to The Washington Post, the company confirmed its involvement in the development of American Edge. “The US leads the world in technology, and we should be proud of that fact and promote it. We’re working with a diverse group of stakeholders to help build support for our industry, and while we’re leading an effort to start this coalition, it’s one of many we are contributing to and supporting.”
The move by Facebook comes as the social-media giant faces more critics in Congress than ever, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle calling for the company to be broken up. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have become outspoken critics, with both publicly supporting breaking it up.
Warren is such a staunch foe of the tech giant that she included a plan to break the company up as part of her presidential-campaign platform. Her proposal would have forced Facebook to undo its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was so aghast at the Massachusetts senator’s plan that last year, when Warren was still in the race, he told Facebook employees during a meeting that he was ready to “go to the mat” and fight for the company if she became president.
“I would bet that we will have a legal challenge, and I would bet that we will win that legal challenge,” Zuckerberg told his employees, according to audio obtained by The Verge. “If someone’s going to try to threaten something that existential, you go to the mat and you fight.”
After Facebook announced that its 20-member oversight board, which will focus on issues of hate speech and harassment, Hawley last week argued the move further proved the company should be broken up.
“This is how powerful @Facebook is, how much speech it controls, how much of our time & attention it claims: It now has a special censorship committee to decide what speech can stay & what should go,” he tweeted.