Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, has maxed out political donations to a number of Democratic candidates including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) this cycle, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Sandberg, who has embarked on a Facebook "apology tour" over its Cambridge Analytica data scandal, admitted that the social media giant knew that the firm had mishandled data two and half years ago but failed to act at the time.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday testified in front of Congress on the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
However, Zuckerberg's testimony transcript skips from the year 2007 to 2013 and makes no mention of the company's assistance to President Barack Obama's reelection campaign. Many members of the committees have been recipients of campaign cash from the Facebook Inc. PAC, the political action committee of the company. Zuckerberg has only donated $5,000 this election cycle, all of which went to Facebook's PAC.
Sandberg, on the other hand, has given generously to Democrats this cycle.
Sandberg has sent $25,000 to WOMEN VOTE!, a progressive PAC associated with EMILY's List, a group that focuses on electing pro-choice Democratic women.
Sandberg has given maxed out donations ($5,400) to the campaigns of Reps. Pelosi, Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), Zoe Lofgren (D., Calif.), and other representatives.
Sandberg also added maxed out contributions to the campaigns of Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.), Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.).
The Facebook COO, who has not contributed to any Republicans this cycle, has donated overwhelmingly to Democrats in the past.
In addition to the donations, Sandberg appeared in the hacked emails of John Podesta, the former chairman of Hillary Clinton's campaign.
A pdf file discovered by the Free Beacon that was attached to one of the emails spoke of 'discreet conversations' about forming 'working relationships' between the Clinton campaign and the likes of Facebook and Apple. That memo referenced the work being done for the Clinton campaign by a group linked to Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive of Alphabet, Google's parent company.
Schmidt had funded a tech startup called The Groundwork, which was developed by Michael Slaby, the former chief integration and innovation officer for the Obama campaign. The Groundwork was ultimately paid more than $600,000 by Clinton's campaign.
Facebook told USA Today that it is important for the tech giant to "develop relationships with elected officials" when questioned on the company's PAC contributions that have been given to members of the committees questioning Zuckerberg.