Facebook donations raise some eyebrows
Lawmakers who will be questioning Zuckerberg got big contributions
WASHINGTON – Members of the House and Senate committees that will question Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about user privacy protection next week are also some of the biggest recipients of campaign contributions from Facebook employees directly and the political action committee funded by employees.
The congressional panel that got the most Facebook contributions is the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which announced Wednesday morning that it would question Zuckerberg on April 11.
Members of the committee, whose jurisdiction gives it regulatory power over Internet companies, received nearly $381,000 in contributions tied to Facebook since 2007, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The center is a non-partisan, non-profit group that compiles and analyzes disclosures made to the Federal Election Commission.
The second-highest total, $369,000, went to members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which announced later that it would have a joint hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee to question Zuckerberg on Tuesday. Judiciary Committee members have received $235,000 in Facebook contributions.
On the House panel, Republicans got roughly twice as much as Democrats, counter to the broader trend in Facebook campaign gifts. Of the $7 million in contributions to all federal candidates tied to the Menlo Park, Calif.-based social network, Democrats got 65% to Republicans’ 33%.
Of the 55 members on the Energy and Commerce Committee this year, all but nine have received Facebook contributions in the past decade. The average Republican got $6,800, while the average Democrat got $6,750.
Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., received $27,000, while Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the topranking Democrat, got $7,000.
A spokesman for Democrats on the House committee, C.J. Young, said he could not discuss campaign contributions. “But the premise that Facebook is getting softballs from the committee isn’t grounded in the facts,” he said.
Facebook estimated up to 87 million accounts could have had their data improperly shared by Cambridge Analytica, a political targeting firm that worked on President Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Facebook suspended the firm’s account after concluding Cambridge Analytica obtained and did not destroy personal information from users who downloaded a personality profile app.
Fred Wertheimer, founder and president of the campaign finance reform advocacy group Democracy21, said having a committee that got the most contributions from Facebook question its top executive about a national controversy demonstrates why the system needs to be changed.
“It undermines public confidence that the members are going to make decisions in the best interests of the American people,” Wertheimer said.