Senator Amy Klobuchar told the Senate Judiciary Committee she
would send a letter seeking details about a New York Times
article that named the Minnesota Democrat as a target of an
aggressive Facebook lobbying campaign that relied partly on a
Republican opposition research firm.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
Klobuchar. But Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told
reporters that he ended the company's relationship with the
outside firm, Definers Public Affairs, after he became aware of
it while reading the New York Times story. Definers did not
respond to a request to comment.
The New York Times said Facebook conducted an aggressive
campaign to combat critics, shift public anger toward rival
companies and fend off new regulations contained in proposed
legislation that Klobuchar supports.
"This is a pretty serious matter for those of us on the
receiving line," Klobuchar told the committee.
"I would like to know what was going on with elected officials,"
she said. "If they in fact were taking actions against critics,
this could be a campaign finance issue... It could also have
other legal ramifications."
If Facebook spent money trying to influence the outcome of an
election, it would have been required to disclose that spending
to the Federal Election Commission and failure to do so would be
a violation of the law. However, recent Supreme Court rulings
have given companies leeway, requiring that they directly call
for someone to be elected, or lose their office, to trigger the
campaign finance laws.
The Times report said Facebook hired the Republican firm to
discredit activist protesters and lobbied a Jewish civil rights
group to cast some critics of the company as anti-Semitic.
Its issue with Klobuchar involved legislation known as the
Honest Ads Act, which she has supported along with Democratic
Senator Mark Warner and the late Arizona Republican Senator John
McCain. The bill would compel Facebook and other internet firms
to disclose the sponsors of political ads on their websites.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Additional reporting by Ginger
Gibson and Paresh Dave; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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