Ahead of the election, Republican lawmakers have sounded the alarm about Texas billionaire John Arnold, who was appointed to Meta's board earlier this year, warning that he could undermine efforts to maintain free speech and openness on Facebook ahead of the presidential election.
Arnold, whose net worth is estimated at $2.9 billion according to Forbes magazine, has donated tens of millions of dollars to left-wing causes, including bail reform in New York and George Soros-affiliated groups that denounce “disinformation.”
“John Arnold is a far-left extremist who has funded pro-crime projects in Indiana and pro-censorship organizations across the country. His appointment to the board should make every patriotic American fearful that big tech companies will meddle in the 2024 presidential election just as they did in the last one,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) told the Post.
““Mark Zuckerberg recently sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee stating that he promotes free speech and has no intention of manipulating the upcoming election,” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), a member of the committee, told The Post about Meta's CEO. “I would like to believe that, but I find it hard to believe that John Arnold, who has donated millions of dollars to pro-censorship groups, sits on Meta's board of directors. Americans have the right to speak freely without the left-wing dark money networks that fund the censorship-industrial complex and undermine the right to free expression.”
In an August letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook had downgraded a Washington Post article about Hunter Biden's laptop before the 2020 election and that the company had bowed to pressure from the Biden administration to censor coronavirus-related content, voicing his opposition to censorship.
“I believe the government pressure was misguided and I regret not speaking up more,” Zuckerberg wrote.
But Rep. Greg Stube (R-Fla.), another member of the committee, believes Arnold's role in Meta indicates Zuckerberg may not be ready to move away from censorship entirely.
“Meta is notorious for censoring conservative voices. It wasn't until Zuckerberg's involvement in election interference was revealed that [Post’s] Would he have pledged to reform Meta’s “content moderation procedures” during the October 2020 report about Hunter Biden’s laptop, Stubbs told The Post.
“If Zuckerberg was at all serious about his pledge, it seems likely that John Arnold, who has spent millions on censorship efforts, should have been the last person on Meta's board.”
Asked about Arnold's role on Meta's board, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) criticized the company's past efforts to suppress speech, saying, “What could be more Orwellian than that?” and “I don't think there's anything more Orwellian than that?” [is] It has a large number of left-wing academics who decide issues of free speech.”
While Meta’s board includes right-leaning members such as venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and former George W. Bush administration official Robert M. Kimmitt, lawmakers have noted that Arnold is more political than anyone else on the board, especially since conservative firebrand Peter Thiel steps down in 2022.
Arnold, 50, began his career as an energy trader at Enron before launching hedge fund Centaurus Advisors, which made him America's youngest billionaire in 2007. He closed the fund in 2012 and began donating to public policy issues through his charitable organization, Arnold Ventures.
According to the 990 filing, between 2018 and 2022, he donated $1.5 million to the Social Science Research Council, which runs Mediawell, “which aggregates research and news on digital disinformation and misinformation.”
The research theme is: Restricting “actors who make extreme statements” On smaller platforms like Parler, “Fighting the Immortal Monster: The story of journalism legitimacy in the Trump era” Coronavirus lab leak They consider the theory “racist” and a “conspiracy theory.”
The organization also Claimed Policies to crack down on “extremist speech,” such as those implemented in the European Union.
In 2020, Arnold donated $500,000 to Global Witness, an NGO founded by left-wing billionaire George Soros. Supported since 2002Global Witness emphasizes its commitment to protecting human rights, but much of its recent investigations have focused on “election disinformation.”
A recent Global Witness investigation found that X.Enhance[s] Right-wing views“And technology companies should Curbing “climate disinformation”.”
Arnold donated $13.5 million to the New Venture Fund between 2016 and 2020. According to the nonprofit Capital ResearchThe foundation had lobbied for increased government oversight of speech, including net neutrality, and a 2022 Washington Examiner report said Arnold donated nearly another $10 million between 2019 and 2021 to “groups involved in the so-called campaign to combat disinformation and misinformation.”
He has donated more than $45 million over the past five years to groups promoting bail reform in New York. According to a Fox News report: This is more than the $40 million Soros has donated to these causes.
Arnold previously worked at Facebook. Partnership funding in 2018 I tried to study how social media is affecting elections, but I don't have much experience with it beyond that.
Last month, he Bloomberg interview His appointment to Meta's board in February was unexpected: “I'm not a technologist, so this invitation came as even more of a surprise to me.
“I think they were looking for someone with energy expertise… The amount of infrastructure required to run a data center for AI is massive,” Arnold said.
He added that the company could benefit from its philanthropic efforts to combat misinformation: “My background in public policy will be an asset to the company.”
Meta did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for John Arnold declined to comment.
