Steve Bannon sought to spy on Facebook: report

Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon tried to spy on Facebook by planting a mole in the company, BuzzFeed reported.

According to internal emails obtained by the news outlet, Bannon was seeking to gain insight into Facebook’s hiring process. 

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“There is one for a DC-based ‘Public Policy Manager’ at Facebook’s What’s APP [sic] division. LinkedIn sent me a notice about some job openings,” Chris Gacek, a former congressional staffer who works for the conservative Family Research Council, wrote on Aug. 1, according to Buzzfeed. Gacek reportedly gave Bannon the idea of infiltrating Facebook.

“This seems perfect for Breitbart to flood the zone with candidates of all stripe who will report back to you / Milo [Yiannopoulos] with INTEL about the job application process over at FB,” Gacek, who works at the  Family Research Council, continued.

Bannon forwarded the emails to Yiannopoulos, Breitbart’s former tech editor, later that day. Yiannopoulos resigned from the conservative website in February after a video surfaced of him defending pedophilia.

It’s unclear if Yiannopoulos, Bannon or Gacek pursued the plan further than the email exchange in August, however, it appears unlikely that they were successful in installing their preferred candidate in the Public Policy Manager position at WhatsApp.

A source told BuzzFeed that Facebook hired former director of Trade Policy and Global Supply Chain Security in President Obama’s National Security Council, Christine Turner, to fill the position.

Facebook did not immediately return The Hill’s request for comment.

Bannon, Yiannopoulos, Gacek and the Family Research Council did not respond to multiple requests from BuzzFeed comment.

News of the emails come as Facebook navigates the fallout from revelations that Russian actors purchased political ads on Facebook to potentially interfere in the 2016 election. Facebook is caught in the middle as some on the right criticize it for having an alleged liberal bias, while many liberals blast it for disseminating fake stories that they say swayed the election.