American Edge

• In 2020 Facebook Launched American Edge, A Dark-Money Astroturf Group Designed To Combat Potential Federal Regulations.
• American Edge obscured its donors by forming as a nonprofit, then launching an affiliated social welfare group that could legally push political messages through advertising and other means.

• American Edge was formed to oppose antitrust legislation and promote big tech interests amid growing scrutiny of U.S. tech companies and political pressure to implement regulations.
• Despite presenting itself as a grassroots nonprofit, American Edge was created and funded by Facebook. The tech giant was reportedly “critical” and worked “behind the scenes” to launch American Edge. Facebook even admitted its involvement with the organization. Company spokesman Andy Stone said Facebook was “leading an effort to start this coalition.” Facebook also reported donating to American Edge on its website. Notably, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg setup similar 501(c)4 organizations in the past to promote the company’s interests.
• American Edge thwarted transparency and declined to name the company’s backers other than Facebook. In May 2020, John Ashbrook, a consultant advising American Edge, declined to name any of the organization’s corporate backers when asked. The group went on to release an August 2020 ad featuring prominent tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Zoom.
• American Edge Coordinated With Facebook Using Various Strategies Designed To Oppose Antitrust Legislation And Protect Big Tech Interests. American Edge employed a variety of strategies aimed at opposing antitrust legislation and protecting big tech, many of which were coordinated with Facebook.
  • Advertising was the most prominent strategy American Edge and Facebook used to promote their message. According to digital ad data from OpenSecrets, American Edge spent $265,000 on Facebook ads about technology policy from September 2020 to June 2021. Wired noted that American Edge and Facebook specifically “pump[ed] ads into the feeds of the DC policy audience” in an effort to influence legislation. According to the Tech Transparency Project, American Edge and Facebook launched an “ad blitz” ahead of Facebook CEO’s Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress.
  • American Edge and Facebook also coordinated to sponsor newsletters in a variety of publications, including Politico, the Hill, Axios, and Punchbowl News. Newsletters typically allowed sponsors to insert a message of their choice in the digest. During a five-week period in 2021, Facebook and American Edge sponsored a combined 91 newsletters across publications. Notably, the uptick in sponsorships came ahead of Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress.
• In addition to their coordination on advertising and newsletters, Facebook and American Edge used similar lines of argument to oppose antitrust regulations. Companies like Facebook and organizations like American Edge argued that antitrust reform could hinder U.S. competition with China. American Edge promoted this idea in an October 2021 report, as well as op-eds it dispatched across various publications around the country. Critics called the tactic a “thinly veiled effort to dodge regulation and ward off would-be backers.”
• American Edge Assembled A Leadership Team With Immense Political Influence And Close Ties To Big Tech. American Edge assembled a team of advisors with political influence and close ties to big tech. According to the Washington Post, American Edge “[came] together with the aid of top Democratic and Republican operatives.” Its paid advisors were comprised of former members of Congress and political officials, tasked with influencing their friends and former colleagues to uphold big tech interests. Moreover, many advisors held personal financial interests in big tech’s success.
  • Frances Townsend, a former White House Counterterrorism and Homeland Security adviser, served on American Edge’s National Security Advisory Board. Townsend had connections to numerous other organizations that relied on big tech for funding. Townsend was on the board of directors of the Atlantic Council, which was funded by Facebook and Google. Notably, in October 2021, American Edge partnered with the Atlantic Council on a report critical of China’s influence over technology standards-setting. Townsend was also a member of the board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which was funded by Apple and Google, as well as the board of the Council on Foreign Relations, which was funded by Microsoft, Facebook, and Google.
  • Another American Edge advisory board member with ties to big tech was Democratic former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. As a Senator, Heitkamp accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from tech companies. Per OpenSecrets, Heitkamp’s fourth largest donor sector throughout her career was “communications/electronics,” and her third biggest donor was Google’s parent company, Alphabet. From 2013 to 2018, Heitkamp’s top overall donor was Google, which gave the Senator more than $131,000. Over that same period, Facebook gave Heitkamp $10,000 in donations. Although she is no longer a Senator, Heitkamp may still have a financial stake in big tech’s success. As of her most recent personal financial disclosure from 2019, Heitkamp reported holding stock in Apple and Google. Additionally, in 2019, Heitkamp launched an advocacy organization called the One Country Project in coordination with the lobbying firm Forbes Tate. The two groups reportedly had the same address, and One Country’s executive director was a partner at Forbes Tate. According to the Forbes Tate website, tech lobbying was one of the firm’s areas of specialty. From 2012 to 2014, Forbes Tate earned $200,000 lobbying on behalf of Amazon. In 2020, a coalition of progressive organizations wrote the Biden Administration a letter opposing Heitkamp’s consideration for USDA secretary. The letter noted Heitkamp’s ties to big tech through One Country and Forbes Tate.
  • Republican former U.S. Representative and American Edge Advisory Board Member Greg Walden also had ties to big tech. According to OpenSecrets, “communications/electronics” was Walden’s second biggest donor sector throughout his career. From 2012 to 2019, Walden accepted $31,000 in donations from Facebook. As a Congressman, Walden was a friend to Facebook. He chaired the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and called for “light-touch regulation, not heavy-handed government” when it came to regulating the tech industry. Additionally, Walden represented a district in Oregon where Facebook did “a lot of business” and received big tax breaks for data centers. Slate pointed out the tax breaks as a potential conflict of interest when Walden led Mark Zuckerberg’s hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
  • Like Walden, American Edge board member and Republican former Governor of New Mexico Susana Martinez offered Facebook big economic incentives to build data centers in her state. As governor, Martinez announced that Facebook would expand its data center in Los Lunas, New Mexico. Facebook entertained bids to build data centers in both New Mexico and Utah, but the company ultimately selected New Mexico after being offered tax breaks on billions of dollars in computer equipment and annual payments topping out at $500,000 instead of property taxes.
  • Other American Edge Advisory Board members with tech ties included Democratic former Rep. Chris Carney and Republican former Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Since leaving office, Carney has worked at the lobbying firm Nossaman LLP. In October 2019, Carney registered to lobby on behalf of NMR Consulting, an information technology company that partnered with Microsoft. Chambliss also had big tech ties. According to a 2014 Los Angeles Times report, “Tech execs who look more like old-school Fortune 500 barons are coming out of the closet, opening the checkbooks for old-fashioned GOP politicians such as ... Sen. Saxby Chambliss.” Additionally, while we don’t have information about Chambliss’s finances since he left office, he held stock in Apple per his most recent financial disclosure report filed in 2015.
  • Finally, Bradley Smith, an American Edge director and former Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission, did not have apparent ties to big tech, but had previous experience that would be favorable to 501(c)4 organizations trying to conceal their donors. After resigning from the FEC in 2005, Smith founded the Center for Competitive Politics, a nonprofit that opposed strengthening campaign finance laws. As of December 2021, Smith still chaired the organization (though it was renamed the Institute for Free Speech in 2017). In 2014, Smith’s organization opposed a proposed IRS Rule that would limit spending by 501(c)4 organizations in response to “dark money” concerns. Perhaps its unsurprising that Smith, who adamantly opposed regulating groups like American Edge, was chosen to help run the organization.
  • American Edge was criticized from both the Left and Right. American Edge had critics across the political spectrum. According to Politico, the organization was “shrouded in controversy” after Facebook disclosed its involvement. In June 2020, ten progressive organizations, including Public Citizen and the Tech Transparency Project, sent Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg a letter asking him to shut down American Edge. The letter expressed concerns with the organization’s 501(c)4 status and the revolving door between government and the tech industry. On the other side of the political aisle, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley called out the organization for its dark money spending and opposition to antitrust legislation, which was backed by a bipartisan coalition of legislators.