Meta-funded group floods Facebook with anti-AI regulation ads

The American Edge Project has spent $150k+ stoking China fears and urging opposition to "anti-innovation" laws

The American Edge Project, a Meta-funded dark money group dubbed “Facebook’s anti-regulatory attack dog”, has set its sights on a new target: AI regulation.

Between February and June, the organisation spent $150,000-$190,000 on Facebook ads warning of impending threats to the US if the country regulates artificial intelligence, according to data from Meta’s Ad Library analysed by Transformer.

Across over 150 ads, two arguments recur: AI regulation will harm small businesses, China will overtake the United States in AI. Many of the ads use alarmist language like “🚨 We need 100 letters TODAY” and “🚨URGENT ALERT”, with one recasting AI regulation as “pro-China legislation”. Between 6 and 7.5 million people have viewed the ads.

Many of the ads urge Americans to write to their representatives opposing “anti-innovation legislation”. A template letter warns that “China is already accelerating its lead over the United States in artificial intelligence (AI) patent filings”, and tells lawmakers “to consider the unintended consequences of anti-innovation legislation in Washington that would harm America's competitive edge”. This narrative is starkly at-odds with what Americans believe: a recent poll found that both Republican and Democrat voters believe that “taking a careful controlled approach” to AI is more important than “moving forward on AI as fast as possible to be the first country to get extremely powerful AI”.

The ads lack specifics on which “misguided legislation” American Edge opposes.

American Edge received $38 million from Meta in the 2019 and 2020 fiscal years, according to tax records and reporting from CNBC. It received a further $47.5 million in the 2021-22 fiscal year, according to its most recent tax return, though the source of that donation is not known: the group’s legal structure allows it to keep donors anonymous.

Meta, which builds the Llama series of open-source large language models, has been one of the most vocal opponents to major AI regulation efforts. Nick Clegg, the company's president of government affairs, has warned governments that regulation could stifle innovation.

Yann LeCun, Meta's chief AI scientist, has said he opposes attempts to regulate foundation models, and last year signed a letter to the White House criticising President Biden’s executive order on AI.

American Edge has long advocated against tech regulation on Meta’s behalf, playing a particularly notable role in antitrust debates. In 2022, a Tech Transparency Project report called American Edge “Facebook’s anti-regulatory attack dog”, arguing that “by quietly funding AEP, Facebook can support an anti-regulatory stance, while publicly painting itself as a cooperative, good faith actor”.

Aside from ads on Facebook, American Edge is pushing its message in other channels. Board members Susana Martinez and Bradley Smith recently published an op-ed in Newsweek echoing many of the ads’ talking points, arguing that “America's technology leadership is under siege”. CEO Doug Kelly, meanwhile, warned Floridians that “a growing surge of anti-innovation regulations both in the United States and globally could significantly damage Florida’s tech ecosystem”.

And the group is reviving an old playbook of sponsoring Beltway newsletters like Axios and Politico: later this year, American Edge will be the “launch partner” of Punchbowl’s new tech policy vertical.

When asked for comment on this piece, American Edge Project CEO Doug Kelly provided the following statement: “China has a $1.4 trillion dollar plan to supplant the United States as the world’s technology leader, which is why the American Edge Project is running a comprehensive campaign to inform people about the threat to our future. The threats to America's technological edge, especially from China, could directly jeopardise our national security and economic well being. As numerous intelligence officials have made plain for some time, losing our competitive edge would have very dangerous consequences for America’s economic and national security. It matters greatly which country builds the future.”

Meta did not respond to a request for comment.