Facebook amasses army to lobby on Libra
Facebook has expanded its lobbying operation to help pitch its upcoming Libra digital currency, which policymakers are threatening to derail amid growing distrust of the social media giant.
In addition to its in-house lobbying team, sources familiar with the matter said Facebook has hired a pair of lobby shops with deep experience in Washington’s financial services arena to work on Libra issues — the Sternhell Group and the Cypress Group. It has tapped the law firm Davis Polk to help handle regulatory concerns, another source familiar with the matter said.
Facebook has also been leaning on outside firms under its employ on other issues to help sway policymakers scrutinizing the currency, including BakerHostetler and the OB-C Group.
“Education at this point is the first and foremost step, making people aware of what it is and the rollout and just getting people comfortable with the idea,” said Tripp Baird, who lobbies on behalf of Facebook for Off Hill Strategies. “That’s been our primary focus at this point and answering any questions members of Congress and folks in the administration may have.”
Facebook is trying to bolster its lobbying muscle as lawmakers and regulators question what risks Libra may pose to the financial system and whether it should be allowed to move forward.
After Facebook announced Libra last month, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned that it raised “many serious concerns,” related to privacy, money laundering and consumer protection.
Congress sprang into action with back-to-back Senate and House hearings on the planned payment network, which Facebook and its partners plan to launch next year. House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and others in Congress are already calling on Facebook to halt work on the project.
Before last week’s Hill hearings, lawmakers and aides heard directly from a number of key Facebook employees, including David Marcus, the executive overseeing the company’s financial services subsidiary; Lee Brenner, head of blockchain public policy; as well as Facebook lobbyists Chris Randle and Myriah Jordan.
Randle joined the company last year after working as a Democratic aide in the House and Senate. Jordan previously served as general counsel to Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and in President George W. Bush’s administration.
Also participating in the Libra briefings has been Dante Disparte, head of policy and communications for the nonprofit Libra Association, which is being organized to manage Libra with Facebook and its partners. Facebook plans to operate a digital “wallet” called Calibra that will enable its users to transact in the new currency.
A host of other experienced Washington hands from both sides of the aisle have been helping Facebook with Libra’s Washington rollout. Among them: BakerHostetler’s Kevin Edgar, previously House Financial Services Committee chief counsel under former Republican Chairman Jeb Hensarling; Off Hill’s Baird, the former director of Senate relations and senior legislative strategist at the conservative Heritage Action for America; and OB-C Group’s Daniel Kidera, who worked for the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety and in the Obama administration.
Further bolstering Facebook’s lobbying muscle on Libra are the Cypress Group and the Sternhell Group, which had not previously registered to lobby for the social media company but were well established in financial services. At press time, they had not disclosed lobbying for Facebook.
Cypress, which counts among its partners former Trump deputy chief of staff Rick Dearborn, also represents Citigroup and several of the nation’s largest insurance companies. Sternhell, founded by former Senate Banking Committee Democratic aide Alex Sternhell, counts among its clients the Bank Policy Institute trade association and the cryptocurrency policy nonprofit Coin Center.
Facebook, Cypress and Davis Polk declined to comment for this story. Sternhell and OB-C did not respond to requests for comment.