Facebook is friend the feds, and prepared to splash the cash for its own A Team of insider lobbists
Cecilia Kang
Washington Post
February 3, 2012
The company has put political veterans in key executive roles and board positions. It’s also quickly built up a powerhouse Washington lobbying operation and established a political action committee to make it easy for employees to donate to candidates.
It will need those relationships, experts say, as it tries to ward off regulations and investigations over its privacy practices — which are among the greatest risks to its unbridled growth, the company revealed this week in a federal filing for its planned stock offering.
“They are going all out to hire people who are well-connected and buying the Rolodexes that these people bring from the government,” said Steve Stesney, a product manager at First Street, a software company that provides analysis on politics and lobbying. He said Facebook is moving more aggressively than other big Silicon Valley companies to embrace corporate America’s traditional approach to Washington.
Facebook has studied mistakes by older rivals, such as Google and Microsoft, and is responding quickly, experts say, by strategically hiring experienced Democratic and Republican operatives. The company has brought on key operatives from the past three administrations.
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