This article was published on April 6, 2013

Zuckerberg has reportedly brought aboard an all-star tech cast for his immigration lobby group


Zuckerberg has reportedly brought aboard an all-star tech cast for his immigration lobby group

Details of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s immigration reform advocacy group have been emerging, and a purported draft of the group’s prospectus obtained by Politico suggests that he has the support of several notable tech executives and investors, including Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman and Netflix’s Reed Hastings.

Bill Gates and Marc Andreessen were also listed as founders, but a source told the outlet that the two had yet to officially sign on to the endeavor. We’ve contacted both for comment, but have yet to hear back.

Here’s the list of names that was published by Politico:

The roster of the Zuckerberg group’s founders as listed in the prospectus and confirmed by a source is heavy on executives with Facebook connections. It includes Netflix founder Reed Hastings, Twitter creator Jack Dorsey, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus and Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom. Venture capitalists Jim Breyer, Ron Conway and Paul Graham are also involved.

That’s a serious list of heavy hitters, though sources suggest that some of them, such as Mark Pincus have pledged money but won’t serve as a board member or founder. It does have some overlap with the newly-formed Internet Association, namely Facebook, LinkedIn and Zynga, while also noticeably missing several participants: executives from Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, etc.

The leaked prospectus isn’t to be taken as fact. When contacted by Politico, Joe Green, Zuckerberg’s former college roommate who was tapped to help start the group, described it as “outdated” and misrepresentative of the organization’s mission:

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Several prominent leaders in the tech community, operating solely as individuals, continue to work on forming an issues advocacy organization that would seek to promote issues such as comprehensive immigration reform and education reform,” Green said. “However, some of the information contained in this email is outdated and not representative of the kind of work this organization will perform. Moreover, I regret some of the language in the email was poorly-chosen and could give a misimpression of the views and aspirations of this organization and those associated with it.

That’s quite the mea culpa, and rightfully so, as some quotes from the document are cringe-worthy.

At the time, the working title for the group was “Human Capital”. One section of the prospectus listed “tactical assets” for the group’s technology executives. It touted the tech sector as having the potential to be a powerful political force.

“We control massive distribution channels, both as companies and individuals,” the document reportedly read. “We have individuals with a lot of money. If deployed properly this can have huge influence in the current campaign finance environment.”

Zuckerburg is believed to have hired two lobbying firms and prominent Republican strategists to assist in the effort.

The document positions the group as having “assembled the best people and most funding” for the immigration reform issue. Assuming that the above list of executives and investors is accurate, that’s likely to be the case. Now to wait and see what they can accomplish.

For more quotes from and details on the “Human Capital” prospectus, read the original Politico article.

See also: Facebook and Google spent record amounts on lobbying in 2012, up 196% and 70% over 2011

Image credit: Acid Pix

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