Democrats on Thursday hammered Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for attending a previously undisclosed dinner with President Donald Trump, calling it the latest sign of the tech mogul cozying up to the administration just as regulators are scrutinizing its treatment of competitors.
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"If they’re hiding it, usually it’s for a reason," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told POLITICO on Thursday. "It certainly seems like Facebook is potentially tailoring their ad policy in order to appease the Trump administration and the right so they do not get regulated.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) labeled the dinner “corruption, plain and simple.”
“Amid antitrust scrutiny, Facebook is going on a charm offensive with Republican lawmakers,” Warren tweeted from her presidential campaign account. “And now, Mark Zuckerberg and one of Facebook's board members — a major Trump donor — had a secret dinner with Trump. ”
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POLITICO reported last month that Zuckerberg had previously held a series of off-the-record dinners starting in July with conservative pundits and journalists, as well as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). In September, Zuckerberg quietly held several meetings and at least one dinner with lawmakers, many of them prominent Republicans, to discuss concerns about the company’s conduct.
“Every time we learn more about Zuckerberg’s behavior, it’s getting much more concerning,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Bill Russo, deputy communications director for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, said that in light of "nearly weekly revelations about secret White House dinners and attempts to cozy up with right wing provocateurs, it is increasingly clear their choice is to put profits above the American people."
