By John D. McKinnon, Lindsay Wise and Rebecca Ballhaus
WASHINGTON -- With his company under a regulatory spotlight,
Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg scored a meeting at
the White House with President Trump Thursday -- but faced a
chillier reception from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
A spokesman for Facebook said Mr. Zuckerberg was visiting
Washington to meet with policy makers "to hear their concerns and
talk about future internet regulation." The spokesman said Mr.
Zuckerberg's meeting with the president was "constructive."
Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser,
and White House social media director Dan Scavino also joined the
meeting, a person familiar with the meeting said.
Mr. Trump on Thursday evening tweeted a photo of himself and Mr.
Zuckerberg that the president had posted to his Facebook page. The
White House didn't immediately respond to a request for
comment.
On Capitol Hill, Mr. Zuckerberg received an earful of
complaints, and two and two influential lawmakers couldn't find the
time to meet with him.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) said he challenged Mr. Zuckerberg to
spin off its Instagram and WhatsApp units -- two acquisitions that
are now part of a government antitrust probe into Facebook.
"I said to him, 'Prove that you're serious...sell WhatsApp, and
sell Instagram,'" Mr. Hawley said following his afternoon meeting
with Mr. Zuckerberg. "I think it's safe to say that he was not
receptive to those suggestions," he added.
Mr. Zuckerberg, clad in a dark suit and tie, was trailed
throughout his Capitol Hill visit by a swarm of reporters and
camera crews. He declined to comment.
On Wednesday night, Mr. Zuckerberg kicked off the trip by
sparring with a group of senators at a private dinner. One
attendee, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), described the
meeting as a mix of criticism and constructive dialogue over the
tech industry's "repeated failures" to protect election security
and consumer privacy.
"We had [a] serious, substantive conversation even when we may
have differed," Mr. Blumenthal said in a statement. He added that
he welcomed "the strong, constructive interest shown by Mr.
Zuckerberg."
Mr. Blumenthal has been sharply critical of Facebook,
particularly over its privacy and election missteps of recent
years.
Facebook declined to comment beyond a statement it issued on
Wednesday saying that Mr. Zuckerberg would be in Washington "to
meet with policy makers and talk about future internet
regulation."
Mr. Zuckerberg even had a few expected get-togethers fall
through, mainly because Senate leaders decided not to hold votes on
Thursday, leading many senators to head for the airport.
Sen. Jerry Moran (R., Kan.), who heads the Senate consumer
protection subcommittee, had planned to meet with Mr. Zuckerberg
but decided to catch an early flight home instead. "They will
definitely try and meet the next time he [Mr. Zuckerberg] is here,"
a spokesman said.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D., Hawaii), the top Democrat on the Senate's
technology and internet subcommittee, also had been expected to
meet with Mr. Zuckerberg, but they were unable to find a time to
get together due to scheduling conflicts. Mr. Schatz had recently
met with Mr. Zuckerberg in the senator's Honolulu office,
however.
Mr. Zuckerberg's meetings were aimed at giving the Facebook
co-founder a chance to pitch his own vision for moderate internet
regulation and seek to placate lawmakers who are weighing stricter
standards for lightly regulated platforms.
In the wake of a series of disclosures about questionable
practices at Facebook and other internet companies, lawmakers have
been considering stringent new regulation of platforms in areas
such as user privacy and content moderation.
No action appears imminent on any of the measures. But one idea
that has gained attention is placing new limits on the sweeping
legal immunity that platforms enjoy for harms caused by their
users. Mr. Hawley has been among those advocating such an
approach.
Mr. Zuckerberg was also expected to pitch lawmakers on a
different vision of internet regulation, one that includes more
self-regulation by the companies. The visit also gave Mr.
Zuckerberg a chance to tout progress in Facebook's compliance with
a recently announced $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade
Commission over privacy missteps.
Among the lawmakers who met with Mr. Zuckerberg was Sen. Mike
Lee (R., Utah), who is chairman of the Senate antitrust
subcommittee. Facebook is under antitrust investigation by the FTC,
and could soon face a separate investigation by the Justice
Department. Mr. Lee has raised concerns about possible duplication
of effort by the federal agencies.
Mr. Zuckerberg also met with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.),
the top Democrat on the powerful Commerce Committee. The two
discussed data privacy and election security.
The visit represents Mr. Zuckerberg's first foray into Capitol
Hill since two days of hearings in spring 2018. At the time,
following damaging revelations about Facebook's privacy practices,
Mr. Zuckerberg said that it was "inevitable that there will need to
be some regulation." But he also cautioned lawmakers, "You have to
be careful about what regulations you put in place."
Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com, Lindsay Wise
at lindsay.wise@wsj.com and Rebecca Ballhaus at
Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 19, 2019 20:24 ET (00:24 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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