Meta super PAC pours $1M into Xavier Becerras Calif. governor marketing campaign: Straight out of the Zuckerberg playbook | Latest Tech News
A super PAC backed by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has poured $1 million in last-minute money into the marketing campaign coffers of California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra, The Post has discovered.
Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across (META) California donated a complete of $999,066 in 5 installments between Oct. 20 and Oct. 27, according to marketing campaign finance information.
That’s in addition to more than $1.2 million in donations to the Becerra marketing campaign last May, bringing the general complete above $2.2 million.
California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra speaks during a marketing campaign event at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. Minh Connors for CA Post
The California gubernatorial race is essential to the tech industry because Meta and many other companies are headquartered in the state – placing it in place to move impactful laws on every little thing from artificial intelligence to social media and past.
Outgoing California Gov. Gavin Newsom notably vetoed a major AI security invoice that Meta and Google had lobbied against in 2024.
Becerra, who served as secretary of health and human providers under former President Joe Biden, is at the moment the frontrunner against Republican Steve Hilton in the race to exchange Newsom.
A California Post ballot launched last week confirmed Becerra with a commanding 15.7-point lead over Hilton.
“As Secretary Becerra says time and time again, if you want to see what a leader will do, look at their record,” marketing campaign spokesperson Jonathan Underland said in a assertion. “His record on holding corporations accountable is consistent.”
“As Attorney General, Becerra took Facebook to court in an investigation of the company’s privacy practices,” the assertion added. “As Governor, he will continue to fight to keep Californians safe, affordable, and stand up against Trump’s power grab.”
Representatives for Hilton and Meta didn’t immediately return requests for remark.
The money poured into Becerra’s coffers even after Meta reportedly withdrew $25 million from political motion teams it had funded over the summer season – which made the company’s marketing campaign finances for the 2026 midterms roughly 40% smaller than it was, according to the New York Times.
“This is straight out of the Zuckerberg playbook: write a big check to a slam-dunk winner and hope it buys goodwill with the incoming governor,” a Democratic strategist told The Post. REUTERS
Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across (Meta) California was among the teams purportedly affected by the cutback.
Julianna Arnold, cofounder of the youngsters online security nonprofit Parents Rise, said the donations are troubling because “California has the chance to lead the nation in reining in companies like Meta.”
“My daughter Coco was groomed on Instagram and died of a fentanyl-laced pill. I don’t know what Meta expects in return for this spending,” Arnold told The Post. “I know what survivor parents expect, which is a governor who will take on this industry as if their children’s lives depend on it. Because they do.”
Just this yr, Meta was discovered liable in California state court for hurt induced to a girl recognized as KGM, who alleged that she grew to become addicted to Instagram as a end result of design options such as “infinite scroll” and autoplay.
Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across (META) California donated a complete of $999,066 to Xavier Becerra’s marketing campaign. REUTERS
Meta was ordered to pay $4.2 million in damages.
Critics allege that taking money from Big Tech is inherently a battle of curiosity for a potential governor.
“This is straight out of the Zuckerberg playbook: write a big check to a slam-dunk winner and hope it buys goodwill with the incoming governor,” a Democratic strategist who requested anonymity told The Post.
“It’s a transparent attempt by Meta to get a seat at the table before the first bill ever reaches his desk,” the strategist added. “One can only hope Becerra has the backbone to ignore the money and do the right thing on tech regulation once he takes office.”
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