Twitter Registers Lobbyist, Forms PAC

And yes, it has a hashtag in the name
By Ruth Brown,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 10, 2013 5:12 PM CDT
Twitter Registers Lobbyist, Forms PAC
A Twitter Inc. spokesman.   (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

DC's profound love for Twitter may be tested or cemented, with news the social media service is turning political. The company has announced it's forming its own PAC, to be named Twitter#PAC, and has registered its policy manager (and former Republican aide) William Carty as a lobbyist, the Washington Post reports. It has also hired Nu Wexler, who worked for former Sen. Richard Blumenthal, as its DC-based spokesperson on policy and political issues.

"We expect to continue to play an active role in speaking up on issues related to Internet freedom, government access to user data, patent reform and freedom of expression," the company said in a statement. Twitter is actually a bit late to the party in this area—Microsoft, Facebook, and Google all have big-spending active PACs already. Twitter has been actively working against government surveillance lately, notes Mashable, fighting subpoenas of records of Occupy and Wikileaks activists. (More Twitter stories.)

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