Meta created its own super PAC to politically kneecap its AI rivals

Thanks to a unique corporate ownership structure that gives him complete control of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg has essentially created his own personal California super PAC, allowing him to spend Meta’s money on politically protecting his priorities in the heart of the tech industry — and, possibly, against the interests of his corporate rivals. Meta confirmed that the company plans to spend tens of millions of dollars as part of the initial investment and said that it would figure out who had ultimate decision-making power over candidates to back, and whether Meta’s own social media products were used to promote those candidates, once the super PAC was up and running.

“It’s essentially a way for [Zuckerberg] to spend the company’s money on his political choices, whereas at a company like Google, there’s not a single person who’s a majority shareholder who can dictate what the company does,” Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor specializing in election law, told The Verge. “It’s interesting, because Zuckerberg could just spend his own personal money to do this. But instead, he’s doing it through the company.”