Gizmodo: Meta Donated $4 Million to a Supposedly ‘Grassroots’ Lobbying Firm to Fight Antitrust Bills on Its Behalf
Meta’s loosening its pocket books and digging trenches in preparation for a political war over antitrust legislation that, if lost, could rattle its struggling core business. Though Meta, and even CEO Mark Zuckerberg have begrudgingly advocated for small reforms in the past, the company is increasingly relying on a little known lobbying firm called the American Edge Project to spearhead its opposition to widely popular policy proposals supporters say will bolster competition in the the digital economy.
A new report from the The Tech Transparency Project (TTP) cites a 501(c)(4)’s 990 filing from AEP which shows the organization received a single $4 million donation between December 10, 2019, and October 31, 2020. That donation came around the same time Meta (then Facebook) told the Washington Post it contributed to AEP. Put together, the report’s authors argue these findings imply Meta not only bankrolls AEP, but may have also served as its founder.
…
In an interview with Gizmodo, American Economic Liberties Project Senior Policy Analyst Krista Brown said the TTP’s new documents weren’t necessarily surprising, but are emblematic of Big Tech’s “absurd” talking points around regulation and antitrust.
“Facebook has acquired over 90 companies and stymied innovations over the years so the claims that they are helping small business and the tech sector at large are unfounded,” Brown said. Brown went on to say Meta’s declining trust amongst the general public means it can no longer act as an effective spokesperson for its own policy pursuits. That makes seemingly independent firms like AEP all the more appealing vessels. According to Brown, growing support, both among the public and Congress for competition reform has left Meta “up against a wall.”
…
Brown of the American Economic Liberties, said it’s difficult for people to keep issues surrounding tech front of mind when there are so many other immediate issues vying for their attention.
“It’s been proven time and again that Facebook is not to be trusted for the small business companies that are perpetually hurt by Facebook and other large tech companies, but it is also hard for people to maintain attention on Big Tech as an issue while there’s inflation going on, while there’s Covid, and especially when all of these cases are in discovery now.”