This is the first comprehensive project to aggregate Facebook’s participation in Congressional/Parliamentary hearings around the globe, how it spends its lobbying dollars, who lobbies for the company as well as a documentation of global harms and lawsuits.

We primarily use data from OpenSecrets, as well as our own collated data. This is a living project and will be updated as new visualizations and more data is gathered.

Meta Sued By 40+ U.S. States

A host of U.S. states have sued Meta and Instagram over their harms to kids and teens. These lawsuits reveal damning information about the company’s lack of investment in trust and safety to protect kids and teens online.

Courts

Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook was never properly held accountable. The company was fined $5 billion and $100 million by the FTC and SEC respectively, which are not in line with the extreme nature of the data breach. Since 2018, however, a combination of class action and public accountability lawsuits have been filed.

Hearings

Since 2006, Facebook has testified before Congress and Parliamentary bodies 68 times. Mark Zuckerberg has appeared 8 times in front of these bodies. But since 2017 when it was first reported that Russia had carried out a disinformation campaign on Facebook, Facebook has been misleading Congress, parliaments, and other government agencies. This section aims to draw attention and highlight instances in which Facebook has misled, misrepresented, or downright lied to government officials. It also aims to document occasions in which Facebook has skirted authorities.

Harms

Facebook’s harms around the world to democratic processes, institutions, and human life has been well documented from the Rohingya genocide where the United Nations cited the company as being complicit in the violence to Brazil where dangerous disinformation fueled election lies and COVID-19 conspiracies. We have revealed where Facebook’s fingerprints can be traced around the world.

The Revolving Door

While Facebook employs lobbyists from firms, the company also hires its own public policy team and has some of the best-paid lobbyists in the country. The party affiliation and former employers of these lobbyists go to show how much influence Facebook wields in Washington.

Facebook, in 2021 alone, had five staffers working for them who previously staffed the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. In October of 2021, Politico revealed that John Branscome, who worked as the chief counsel for the Senate Commerce Committee, a committee that has direct oversight over Facebook, would be joining Facebook.

Some groups who advocate or lobby for Facebook are in the Open Secrets disclosure filings. Open Secrets has documented its efforts to prevent antitrust legislation from passing. They include Chamber of Progress, Computer and Communications Industry Association, Connected Commerce Council, NetChoice, Consumer Technology Association, TechNet, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, National Taxpayers Union, American Edge Project, TechFreedom, and Developers Alliance.

FACEBOOK’S LOBBYISTS FIRMS AND DOLLARS

It was reported by the Washington Post that Facebook spent

Over $20 million on lobbying in 2021, a new record for the company

This section exemplifies just how many lobbyists Facebook spends millions of dollars on and how those firms lean. This section shows just how many members of Congress are on Facebook’s payroll.

Facebook’s political donations

Facebook spends millions of dollars on candidates for office across the country. They will try and exert whatever influence they can to get in bed with politicians from both parties to prevent legislation that would regulate core parts of their business model or even break up the company. This section tracks the dollars Facebook spent in the 2020 and 2022 elections on candidates for President and congressional races. According to records, Facebook spent money in 49 states for Republicans and Democrats. These politicians are on Facebook’s Payroll.

Freedom of Information Act

FOIA requests are documents requested by citizens and civil society organizations under the Freedom of Information Act that show communications between the agencies and Facebook. Of note here are the many redactions, and which kind were relied on in these releases.