A super PAC backed by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has poured $1 million in last-minute cash into the campaign coffers of California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra, The Post has learned.
Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across (META) California donated a total of $999,066 in five installments between Oct. 20 and Oct. 27, according to campaign finance records.
That’s in addition to more than $1.2 million in donations to the Becerra campaign last May, bringing the overall total above $2.2 million.
The California gubernatorial race is crucial to the tech industry because Meta and many other firms are headquartered in the state – putting it in position to pass impactful legislation on everything from artificial intelligence to social media and beyond.
Outgoing California Gov. Gavin Newsom notably vetoed a major AI safety bill that Meta and Google had lobbied against in 2024.
Becerra, who served as secretary of health and human services under former President Joe Biden, is currently the frontrunner against Republican Steve Hilton in the race to replace Newsom.
A California Post poll released last week showed Becerra with a commanding 15.7-point lead over Hilton.
Representatives for Becerra, Hilton and Meta did not immediately return requests for comment.
The money poured into Becerra’s coffers even after Meta reportedly withdrew $25 million from political action groups it had funded over the summer – which made the company’s campaign budget for the 2026 midterms roughly 40% smaller than it was, according to the New York Times.
Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across (Meta) California was among the groups purportedly affected by the cutback.
Julianna Arnold, cofounder of the kids online safety nonprofit Parents Rise, said the donations are troubling because “California has the chance to lead the nation in reining in companies like Meta.”
“My daughter Coco was groomed on Instagram and died of a fentanyl-laced pill. I don’t know what Meta expects in return for this spending,” Arnold told The Post. “I know what survivor parents expect, which is a governor who will take on this industry as if their children’s lives depend on it. Because they do.”
Just this year, Meta was found liable in California state court for harm caused to a woman identified as KGM, who alleged that she became addicted to Instagram as a result of design features such as “infinite scroll” and autoplay.
Meta was ordered to pay $4.2 million in damages.
Critics allege that taking money from Big Tech is inherently a conflict of interest for a prospective governor.
“This is straight out of the Zuckerberg playbook: write a big check to a slam-dunk winner and hope it buys goodwill with the incoming governor,” a Democratic strategist who requested anonymity told The Post.
“It’s a transparent attempt by Meta to get a seat at the table before the first bill ever reaches his desk,” the strategist added. “One can only hope Becerra has the backbone to ignore the money and do the right thing on tech regulation once he takes office.”
