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An advocacy group backed by Facebook received a $34 million donation from an anonymous donor as it waged a battle against antitrust legislation that would have more tightly regulated the tech industry.

A person who works with the group, American Edge Project, told CNBC that the $34 million was from Facebook. This person declined to be named in order to speak freely about the group’s finances.

The nonprofit raised the massive amount almost two years ago, according to the organization’s latest 990 tax forms. The documents reflect the nonprofit’s finances starting on Nov. 1, 2020, and carrying into Oct. 31, 2021. These disclosures are the most recent tax records available for public viewing and do not list names of the group’s donors.

A Meta spokesman declined to comment and referred CNBC to American Edge instead.

Doug Kelly, American Edge’s CEO, told CNBC in a statement that “the threats to America’s technological edge have a profound impact on our national security and economic well being and we’re leading the charge to make sure everyone is aware.”

The new documents show the tech advocacy group scored its biggest fundraising haul yet when bipartisan lawmakers on Capitol Hill were attempting to take on tech giants, including through antitrust legislation that didn’t pass Congress and a hearing in March 2021 featuring tech CEOs such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook changed its name to Meta in late 2021.

The American Edge Project launched its first pro-tech industry ad in 2020. The group’s previous 990 forms, from 2019 through late 2020, showed it raised all of its money from a single anonymous $4 million donation during that period. Facebook confirmed in 2020 to The Washington Post that it was contributing to the group. The person who works with American Edge told CNBC that the $4 million was also entirely from Facebook.

American Edge launched a wave of TV and digital ads from late 2020 through 2021, taking on antitrust proposals. A TV spot funded by the group suggested that small-business innovation could be affected if such legislation made its way through Congress.

In June 2021, the House Judiciary Committee passed a package of sweeping tech antitrust reforms. The measures proposed new rules on the largest online platforms, like requiring them to have capabilities for users to easily transfer their data to other services, shifting the burden of proof in merger cases onto dominant tech platforms, blocking platforms from operating businesses with conflicts of interest and from advantaging their own products on platforms they run.

The Senate later introduced a version of one of the bills, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, in October 2021, which aimed to bar self-preferencing on dominant tech services. That bill advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2022.

Taken together, the bills were poised to create a much more uncertain legal environment for Facebook and its peers, including by making it harder to acquire firms that could help their businesses grow.

Almost all of these bills did not get a full House or Senate vote after Big Tech companies and their industry groups opposed the pieces of legislation, saying they would impose unfair restrictions and result in negative effects for consumers. For example, Chamber of Progress, backed by Apple, Amazon, Google and Meta, has warned that the Senate bill would significantly alter Amazon Prime’s offerings like two-day shipping and make it harder to offer low-cost basics from its first-party brand, for fear of being charged with illegal self-preferencing.

American Edge spent over $5 million between TV and digital ads in 2021, according to data from AdImpact. It spent over $10 million on TV ads last year, AdImpact says. The group went into 2022 with over $13 million in net assets, according to its 990 forms.

The $34 million donation also came as American Edge announced it was adding former Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., as advisory board co-chairs to “lead the coalition’s efforts on internet openness, accessibility and free expression,” according to the press release. Walden is still listed on the group’s website as a leader of an advisory board, while Heitkamp is no longer listed.

A 2022 report by the watchdog Tech Transparency Project says Facebook isn’t just a “contributor” to American Edge, as the company confirmed to The Washington Post, but potentially its “sole funder.” The Tech Transparency Project receives funding from the George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, Bohemian Foundation and Omidyar Network, according to its website.

American Edge’s website lists Facebook as a member of their supportive coalition. Other listed members include Bear Hill Advisors, the Center for Individual Freedom, NetChoice, the Connected Commerce Council, the National Black Chamber of Commerce and the National Small Business Association.

Facebook itself has spent over $58 million since the start of 2020 on federal lobbying, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.

Beyond the $34 million donation, the only other contribution listed on the tax disclosure was an another anonymous donation – of $25,000. The multimillion-dollar contribution allowed American Edge to spend just over $19 million on what the forms refer to as media placement and strategic services.

The 990 forms, which were signed and filed by the group in 2022, also show that powerful consulting firms that work for American Edge also received over $3 million combined from the organization. Cavalry LLC, a firm founded by former strategists of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was paid $1.1 million by American Edge from November 2020 through October 2021. The Washington Post reported that John Ashbrook, a founding partner at Cavalry and a former McConnell advisor, is helping guide the group.

Global Strategy Group, a political and corporate consulting firm that was founded by three Democratic strategists, received $910,000 from American Edge over that same time period. GSG has a history of working with Big Tech. Amazon previously employed the group while the company fought unionization efforts. Amazon itself has donated to a similar group while that nonprofit took on tech-related legislation.

The Washington Post reported that Jim Papa, a partner at Global Strategy Group who was an aide to former President Barack Obama, was also helping the organization. Papa says on his GSG profile page that among his current and former clients is FWD.us, a fellow 501(c)(4) nonprofit that was co-founded by Zuckerberg and actively lobbies on immigration-related issues.

A GSG representative did not return requests for comment.

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Etsy touts ‘shopping domestically’ as Trump tariffs threaten price increases for imports

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Etsy touts 'shopping domestically' as Trump tariffs threaten price increases for imports

An employee walks past a quilt displaying Etsy Inc. signage at the company’s headquarters in the Brooklyn.

Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Etsy is trying to make it easier for shoppers to purchase products from local merchants and avoid the extra cost of imports as President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs raise concerns about soaring prices.

In a post to Etsy’s website on Thursday, CEO Josh Silverman said the company is “surfacing new ways for buyers to discover businesses in their countries” via shopping pages and by featuring local sellers on its website and app.

“While we continue to nurture and enable cross-border trade on Etsy, we understand that people are increasingly interested in shopping domestically,” Silverman said.

Etsy operates an online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers with mostly artisanal and handcrafted goods. The site, which had 5.6 million active sellers as of the end of December, competes with e-commerce juggernaut Amazon, as well as newer entrants that have ties to China like Temu, Shein and TikTok Shop.

By highlighting local sellers, Etsy could relieve some shoppers from having to pay higher prices induced by President Trump’s widespread tariffs on trade partners. Trump has imposed tariffs on most foreign countries, with China facing a rate of 145%, and other nations facing 10% rates after he instituted a 90-day pause to allow for negotiations. Trump also signed an executive order that will end the de minimis provision, a loophole for low-value shipments often used by online businesses, on May 2.

Temu and Shein have already announced they plan to raise prices late next week in response to the tariffs. Sellers on Amazon’s third-party marketplace, many of whom source their products from China, have said they’re considering raising prices.

Silverman said Etsy has provided guidance for its sellers to help them “run their businesses with as little disruption as possible” in the wake of tariffs and changes to the de minimis exemption.

Before Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs took effect, Silverman said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in late February that he expects Etsy to benefit from the tariffs and de minimis restrictions because it “has much less dependence on products coming in from China.”

“We’re doing whatever work we can do to anticipate and prepare for come what may,” Silverman said at the time. “In general, though, I think Etsy will be more resilient than many of our competitors in these situations.”

Still, American shoppers may face higher prices on Etsy as U.S. businesses that source their products or components from China pass some of those costs on to consumers.

Etsy shares are down 17% this year, slightly more than the Nasdaq.

WATCH: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says sellers will pass cost of tariffs on to consumers

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy: Sellers will pass increased tariff costs on to consumers

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Google hit with second antitrust blow, adding to concerns about future of ads business

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Google hit with second antitrust blow, adding to concerns about future of ads business

Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies before the House Judiciary Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on December 11, 2018 in Washington, DC.

Alex Wong | Getty Images

Google’s antitrust woes are continuing to mount, just as the company tries to brace for a future dominated by artificial intelligence.

On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that Google held illegal monopolies in online advertising markets due to its position between ad buyers and sellers.

The ruling, which followed a September trial in Alexandria, Virginia, represents a second major antitrust blow for Google in under a year. In August, a judge determined the company has held a monopoly in its core market of internet search, the most-significant antitrust ruling in the tech industry since the case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago. 

Google is in a particularly precarious spot as it tries to simultaneously defend its primary business in court while fending off an onslaught of new competition due to the emergence of generative AI, most notably OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which offers users alternative ways to search for information. Revenue growth has cooled in recent years, and Google also now faces the added potential of a slowdown in ad spending due to economic concerns from President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs.

Parent company Alphabet reports first-quarter results next week. Alphabet’s stock price dipped more than 1% on Thursday and is now down 20% this year.

Why Google's antitrust woes endangers its AI momentum

In Thursday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said Google’s anticompetitive practices “substantially harmed” publishers and users on the web. The trial featured 39 live witnesses, depositions from an additional 20 witnesses and hundreds of exhibits.

Judge Brinkema ruled that Google unlawfully controls two of the three parts of the advertising technology market: the publisher ad server market and ad exchange market. Brinkema dismissed the third part of the case, determining that tools used for general display advertising can’t clearly be defined as Google’s own market. In particular, the judge cited the purchases of DoubleClick and Admeld and said the government failed to show those “acquisitions were anticompetitive.”

“We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president or regulatory affairs, said in an emailed statement. “We disagree with the Court’s decision regarding our publisher tools. Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release from the DOJ that the ruling represents a “landmark victory in the ongoing fight to stop Google from monopolizing the digital public square.”

Potential ad disruption

If regulators force the company to divest parts of the ad-tech business, as the Justice Department has requested, it could open up opportunities for smaller players and other competitors to fill the void and snap up valuable market share. Amazon has been growing its ad business in recent years.

Meanwhile, Google is still defending itself against claims that its search has acted as a monopoly by creating strong barriers to entry and a feedback loop that sustained its dominance. Google said in August, immediately after the search case ruling, that it would appeal, meaning the matter can play out in court for years even after the remedies are determined.

The remedies trial, which will lay out the consequences, begins next week. The Justice Department is aiming for a break up of Google’s Chrome browser and eliminating exclusive agreements, like its deal with Apple for search on iPhones. The judge is expected to make the ruling by August.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai (L) and Apple CEO Tim Cook (R) listen as U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a roundtable with American and Indian business leaders in the East Room of the White House on June 23, 2023 in Washington, DC.

Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images

After the ad market ruling on Thursday, Gartner’s Andrew Frank said Google’s “conflicts of interest” are apparent by how the market runs.

“The structure has been decades in the making,” Frank said, adding that “untangling that would be a significant challenge, particularly since lawyers don’t tend to be system architects.”

However, the uncertainty that comes with a potentially years-long appeals process means many publishers and advertisers will be waiting to see how things shake out before making any big decisions given how much they rely on Google’s technology.

“Google will have incentives to encourage more competition possibly by loosening certain restrictions on certain media it controls, YouTube being one of them,” Frank said. “Those kind of incentives may create opportunities for other publishers or ad tech players.”

A date for the remedies trial hasn’t been set.

Damian Rollison, senior director of market insights for marketing platform Soci, said the revenue hit from the ad market case could be more dramatic than the impact from the search case.

“The company stands to lose a lot more in material terms if its ad business, long its main source of revenue, is broken up,” Rollison said in an email. “Whereas divisions like Chrome are more strategically important.”

WATCH: U.S. judge finds Google holds illegal online ad-tech monopolies

U.S. judge finds Google holds illegal online ad tech monopolies

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Discord sued by New Jersey over child safety features

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Discord sued by New Jersey over child safety features

Jason Citron, CEO of Discord in Washington, DC, on January 31, 2024.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

The New Jersey attorney general sued Discord on Thursday, alleging that the company misled consumers about child safety features on the gaming-centric social messaging app.

The lawsuit, filed in the New Jersey Superior Court by Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the state’s division of consumer affairs, alleges that Discord violated the state’s consumer fraud laws.

Discord did so, the complaint said, by allegedly “misleading children and parents from New Jersey” about safety features, “obscuring” the risks children face on the platform and failing to enforce its minimum age requirement.

“Discord’s strategy of employing difficult to navigate and ambiguous safety settings to lull parents and children into a false sense of safety, when Discord knew well that children on the Application were being targeted and exploited, are unconscionable and/or abusive commercial acts or practices,” lawyers wrote in the legal filing.

They alleged that Discord’s acts and practices were “offensive to public policy.”

A Discord spokesperson said in a statement that the company disputes the allegations and that it is “proud of our continuous efforts and investments in features and tools that help make Discord safer.”

“Given our engagement with the Attorney General’s office, we are surprised by the announcement that New Jersey has filed an action against Discord today,” the spokesperson said.

One of the lawsuit’s allegations centers around Discord’s age-verification process, which the plaintiffs believe is flawed, writing that children under thirteen can easily lie about their age to bypass the app’s minimum age requirement.

The lawsuit also alleges that Discord misled parents to believe that its so-called Safe Direct Messaging feature “was designed to automatically scan and delete all private messages containing explicit media content.” The lawyers claim that Discord misrepresented the efficacy of that safety tool.

“By default, direct messages between ‘friends’ were not scanned at all,” the complaint stated. “But even when Safe Direct Messaging filters were enabled, children were still exposed to child sexual abuse material, videos depicting violence or terror, and other harmful content.”

The New Jersey attorney general is seeking unspecified civil penalties against Discord, according to the complaint.

The filing marks the latest lawsuit brought by various state attorneys general around the country against social media companies.

In 2023, a bipartisan coalition of over 40 state attorneys general sued Meta over allegations that the company knowingly implemented addictive features across apps like Facebook and Instagram that harm the mental well being of children and young adults.

The New Mexico attorney general sued Snap in Sep. 2024 over allegations that Snapchat’s design features have made it easy for predators to easily target children through sextortion schemes.

The following month, a bipartisan group of over a dozen state attorneys general filed lawsuits against TikTok over allegations that the app misleads consumers that its safe for children. In one particular lawsuit filed by the District of Columbia’s attorney general, lawyers allege that the ByteDance-owned app maintains a virtual currency that “substantially harms children” and a  livestreaming feature that “exploits them financially.”

In January 2024, executives from Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord and X were grilled by lawmakers during a senate hearing over allegations that the companies failed to protect children on their respective social media platforms.

WATCH: The FTC has an uphill battle in its antitrust case against Meta.

The FTC has an uphill battle in its antitrust case against Meta: Former Facebook general counsel

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