In 2021 and the first nine months of 2022, only Amazon spent more money on registered federal lobbying (Meta spent $4.6 million on lobbying in the last quarter of 2022). They join LOUISA TERRELL, who’s been JOE BIDEN’s legislative affairs director for the duration of his presidency and was Facebook’s public policy director and a registered lobbyist for the company a decade ago.īiden’s recent Wall Street Journal op-ed calling for bipartisan legislation “to hold Big Tech accountable” has reassured the antitrust class about the administration’s commitment on the issue, which the president also underlined in his State of the Union address last month.īut Facebook, now rebranded as Meta, clearly has interests before the government, and - now - more former allies to whom they can turn. Chief of staff JEFF ZIENTS, who came on last month, served on the company’s board. The administration’s new communications director, BEN LABOLT, was recently the personal spokesman for Facebook founder and CEO MARK ZUCKERBERG and his wife PRISCILLA CHAN. So it’s been something of a shock to those who emblazoned “Wu & Khan & Kanter” on celebratory coffee mugs to find Biden’s West Wing suddenly looking hospitable to senior aides with Silicon Valley ties – to one tech giant in particular. There was TIM WU leaving Columbia University for a job on the National Economic Council, LINA KHAN leading the Federal Trade Commission and, finally, JONATHAN KANTER heading up the Justice Department’s antitrust division. The first several months of the Biden presidency were heady times for Washington’s class of antitrust crusaders, who hailed the appointment of three prominent Big Tech skeptics. Send tips | Subscribe here| Email Eli | Email Lauren Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration.
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