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Comment by komali2 | Hacker News Reader

Say what you will about the intelligence of agreeing to do this hearing at all, at least Zuckerberg is clearly reading from a well-prepared speech. Winging it would have been, er, inadvisable.

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According to the Lobbying Disclosure Reports[0], if you add up outside council for Facebook, they're paying about $156,000 PER MONTH on lobbyists. You'll want to look at 2017 Q4 reports, as Q1 is not yet due and they don't file until it's absolutely due.

[0]. http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldsearch.aspx

At less than $2,000,000/year, that's pocket change to FB ($30B in annual profit). Facebook probably spends more money on flavored seltzer water than that.

How many full time lobbyists do you get for that money? One? :-)

You don't need many, you just need to pay the ones that already have the ear of a few senators and congressmen enough to lobby for you.

A "good" lobbyist is a time-shared resource that has access to many legislators, not a sole-use asset.

That was just the opening statement. He is taking questions from Congress committees, with each member having up to 4 minutes to question him.

https://www.npr.org/2018/04/10/600917264/facebook-in-congres...

>about the intelligence of agreeing to do this hearing at all,

If MZ didn't voluntarily offer himself to testify, Congress could proceed to formally subpoena him. MZ could then ignore the subpoena but then he could theoretically go to jail for "contempt of Congress".

   he could theoretically go to jail for "contempt of Congress".

Oh shit, I’m a criminal.

That is how these proceedings go at this point (when you posted).

Prepared Statements from the Chairperson, then members of the committee, then the "witness" are read then open questioning is where the "winging it" happens.

MZ basically read an abridged version of his formal submission - which is part of the process for the record. http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF00/20180411/108090/HHRG-...

Of course that glib leech has a thousand advisors backing him, meticulously prepping him for these occasions. He's too big to fail.

Wouldn't you seek advice and meticulously prepare before speaking to congress?

Of course i would. I'd also probably throw up beforehand, at least three times

I'm pretty worried and sour about monolithic things existing that are too big to fail, especially Facebook. It seems suboptimal, but I feel powerless. It mostly felt good to write 'glib leech'.

No. I’d just tell them what I know and what I don’t know. The truth.

And I wouldn’t feel nervous at all. Furthermore, I’d give their obtuse questions the treatment that they deserve.

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