META Meta Platforms Inc

By John D. McKinnon and Lindsay Wise 

WASHINGTON -- Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off a lobbying trip to the capital by sparring with senators at a private dinner over a range of online woes including election security, privacy and competition.

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.

Wednesday night's dinner was held at a high-end restaurant called Ris in downtown Washington. It was organized by Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), who has become a leader in developing policy solutions to some of the internet problems that have become a growing worry in Washington.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Mr. Warner said the discussion included "the role and responsibility of social media platforms in protecting our democracy, and what steps Congress should take to defend our elections, protect consumer data and encourage competition in the social media space."

On Thursday, Mr. Zuckerberg was expected to have more private meetings with Democratic and Republican lawmakers on a range of issues, including privacy and election security as well as potential antitrust concerns, content regulation and data portability.

Mr. Zuckerberg's meetings are aimed at giving the Facebook 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. Zuckerberg was expected to meet with at least one lawmaker, Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), who has advocated 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 will give 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.

The Facebook co-founder is expected to meet with Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), who is chairman of the Senate antitrust subcommittee. Facebook is under antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, 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.) on Wednesday evening. 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 and Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 19, 2019 17:27 ET (21:27 GMT)

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