Three weeks ago Mark Zuckerberg dipped his toe into real life activism by creating a bi-partisan group to support immigration reform. Now Zuckerberg is coming under attack from the same progressive activists who lauded that effort for the actions he has taken to further that agenda.
Groups backed by Zuckerberg have recently run TV ads supporting the expansion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and attacking Obamacare. According to ABC News, the ads are being run in order to create a sort of smoke screen that would allow senators to make the risky move of supporting immigration reform.
One of the ads supporting Lindsey Graham, R-SC, depicts Graham attacking many of President Barack Obama's policies.
The Sierra Club took to Zuckerberg's invention in order to show their disapproval. In a message on their Facebook page the environmental group urged Zuckerberg to rethink his politics.
"Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is bankrolling political ads that push dangerous, dirty projects like the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling in America's pristine Arctic Refuge," the statement, seen here, reads.
Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, spoke to ABC News about his disapproval of the political compromises Zuckerberg appeared to be making.
"Just last week, the Sierra Club announced our support for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants - so we know how important immigration reform is to the future of our country," Brune said. "The way to achieve reform, however, isn't by pushing dirty fuel schemes that threaten our future and our families. Mark Zuckerberg has made comments in the past recognizing that we need to pursue a clean energy future, and there is no reason he needs to trade those principles for a few political points."
When Zuckerberg founded FWD.us, the group that has been funding the political ads, he made a deliberate effort to try to stay bi-partisan. Zuckerberg explained this aim in a recent Op-Ed for the Washington Post.
"We will work with members of Congress from both parties, that administration and state and local officials," Zuckerberg wrote. "We will use online and offline advocacy tools to build support for policy changes, and we will strongly support those willing to take the tough stands necessary to promote these policies in Washington."
A mere three weeks into delving into politics it is difficult to tell if Zuckerberg will be able to achieve any of the goals he's working toward, but it is evident that he has rankled many with the methods he is using to achieve those goals.
There is a sweet bit of irony that Zuckerberg, the man who made it infinitely easier for friends to annoy each other with their political views through Facebook, is now suffering similar backlash.
