Overnight Tech: Zuckerberg vows to mend ties with conservatives who ‘don’t trust’ Facebook

LEDE: Prominent conservatives met Wednesday afternoon with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as he looked to address fears that the social network has downplayed conservative stories and news sources.

Zuckerberg said in a post following the meeting that he knows that “many conservatives don’t trust that our platform surfaces content without a political bias.”

{mosads}”I wanted to hear their concerns personally and have an open conversation about how we can build trust,” he said. “I want to do everything I can to make sure our teams uphold the integrity of our products.” 

Attendees met with Zuckerberg as well as Joel Kaplan, the company’s vice president for global public policy and a former official in George W. Bush’s White House, at the company’s headquarters Menlo Park, Calif.

Visitors and their staff were also able to attend a training session on how to use Facebook to communicate publicly, take a tour of the company’s sprawling headquarters and try out the virtual reality technology being developed by Facebook subsidiary Oculus.

A person familiar with the meeting said Zuckerberg let the discussion, which was scheduled to last an hour, run for closer to 90 minutes. Attendees noshed on fruit and cheese while speaking with the Facebook executives about a controversy that has put Facebook on the defensive. Our David McCabe has more details on the meeting and reaction from participants.

WHERE TRUMP INVESTS: Donald Trump has large investments in prominent technology companies like Apple and Amazon, according to the presumptive GOP nominee’s personal financial disclosure report.

Despite being critical of the companies at times on the campaign trail, Trump has at least $1 million invested in Apple and at least $50,000 invested in Amazon, The Hill’s Megan Wilson reports.

Trump was critical of Apple when it refused to help the Justice Department unlock an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino attack. He has also said he would force the company to manufacture its products in the United States if elected. Trump also recently raised antitrust issues with Amazon and accused the company’s CEO Jeff Bezos of leveraging his ownership of The Washington Post in the fight.

Amazon’s CEO pushed back on Trump’s criticism during a discussion with The Washington Post on Wednesday.

OTHERS WITH ASSETS: Trump is not the only politician with tech stocks. Fifty-one members of Congress own shares of Apple stock, while 16 members own Amazon stock, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

CRUZ’S BIG DIGITAL SPENDING: Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign — before he dropped out — spent more money on ads on Google, Facebook and other tech platforms than any campaign in American history, said Cruz’s director of research and analytics for Cruz’s campaign. Chris Wilson, a partner at WPA Opinion Research, said the campaign’s modeling allowed it to rapidly and strategically buy digital media.

“I’ve confirmed with with Facebook and Google, I need to follow up with Twitter and Snapchat to find out but we spent more money — the Cruz campaign did — on each of those mediums than any campaign in American history,” he said during a panel on voter persuasion hosted by Microsoft.

TOMORROW: DEM CONCERNS OVER FCC SET-TOP BOX PLAN: Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y) hosts an event tomorrow focusing “on the strong concerns voiced by minority-owned networks about the FCC’s proposed set-top box rules.” It will feature BET CEO Debra Lee and TV One CEO Alfred Liggins, among others. Clarke is also announcing the formation of a Congressional Caucus on Multicultural Media.

SENATE COMMERCE SETS ICANN HEARING: The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing next Tuesday on the transition away from U.S. control of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. “Witnesses will testify on advantages and disadvantages of the proposed transition of IANA functions to the global multistakeholder community,” the committee’s announcement said.

The hearing comes as Republicans are moving again to stall the transition plans.

NETFLIX LAUNCHES SPEED TEST: Netflix introduced its own speed testing service on Wednesday, called Fast.com. “We all want a faster, better Internet, yet Internet speeds vary greatly and can be affected by other users on your network or congestion with your Internet service provider,” writes David Fullagar, vice president of content delivery architecture. “When you’re experiencing streaming issues, fast.com allows you to check the download speeds you’re getting from your Internet service provider. Using Netflix servers, fast.com works like other globally available tools including speedtest.net, and the results should be similar in most cases.” Try it out here.

PUSH TO CURB STINGRAY USE: Five House lawmakers want tougher standards on local and state law enforcement officials who use so-called stingray devices to help track the location of a person’s phone. The bipartisan group is pushing the FAIR Surveillance Act, introduced late last month, that would require local law enforcement to follow federal rules when they use the surveillance devices in coordination with federal agencies. After public backlash against the surveillance tools, a number of agencies like the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security have implemented policies that generally require warrants before use.

FCC RELEASES LOADS OF CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATA: The Federal Communications Commission receives between 25,000 and 30,000 consumer complaints about companies every month, according to a new database launched by the agency. The database contains limited details on more than 489,000 complaints going back to November 2014. Check out the data here.

On internet issues, net neutrality tops the list, with 20,000 complaints. Click here for the full story.

ON TAP:

At 8:45 a.m., the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation hosts an event on “how specialized tax incentives for innovative products and services could make the U.S. economy more competitive.”

At 9:00 a.m., Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) hosts a panel on “critical issues facing America’s multicultural media outlets” and the FCC’s set-top box proposal.

At noon, groups representing content producers host a panel on the set-top box proposal.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Consumers have filed more than 22,000 net neutrality complaints against companies since Nov. 2014.

A debate is simmering between Washington policymakers and the private sector over whether U.S. companies are building out internet infrastructure quickly enough.

Another senior Republican senator is hitting the Federal Communications Commission over concerns related to its proposal to open up the market for set-top boxes.

Republicans in Congress are again attempting to block the government’s plan to hand off oversight of the internet domain name system.

Charter Communication completed its purchase of Time Warner Cable and a smaller operator on Wednesday, creating the second largest cable operator in the country.

Forty-seven percent of Americans say they are comfortable with social networks like Facebook and Snapchat deciding what news they see, according to a new Morning Consult poll.

Google on Wednesday announced that its new messaging service, Allo, will offer end-to-end encryption.

Verizon and unions representing striking workers are pressing ahead with their negotiations through the assistance of the Department of Labor mediator.

Please send tips and comments to David McCabe, dmccabe@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com and Mario Trujillo, mtrujillo@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com Follow us on Twitter: @dmccabe, @_mariotrujillo, @HilliconValley

This story was last updated at 8:37 p.m.