Members of Congress Who Questioned Mark Zuckerberg Had Received $641,685 From Facebook

By Phil Baker

Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress made for great theater, but the questioning was not without conflicts of interest: Many of those who grilled him had received donations from Facebook.

According to The Verge, since 2014 Facebook has contributed $641,685 to the members of Congress who questioned Zuckerberg. The top recipients include Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA).

The hostility of the questioning did not appear to correlate with the contributions. Sen. Orrin Hatch — who has received $15,200 in donations in the past three years, the sixth largest amount — asked purely softball questions. Sen. Booker — who has received $44,025 since 2014, the largest amount — asked some of the toughest questions. While these donations are perfectly legal, perhaps committee members should be required to disclose them at these hearings.

Facebook has just disclosed that its D.C. spending is on the increase. The company just announced that it spent $3.3 million on its U.S. lobbying effort during just the first quarter of 2018. This represents the largest amount that the company has ever spent in one quarter.

Facebook’s money was spent on lobbying the White House, senators, and representatives, as well as several government agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission. Its lobbying expenses were directed at privacy and security issues related to its social network, as well as for changes to the immigration system, “including temporary high-tech worker visas and employment-based permanent residency.”