(Bloomberg) — Discord Inc. — the online chat platform that’s drawn scrutiny as the place where the suspect in the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, allegedly documented his plans on a private server — has hired its first federal lobbyists.
The company chose bipartisan group Monument Advocacy, which spent a total of over $10 million last year lobbying for dozens of companies, including tech giants Amazon.com Inc.
and Microsoft Corp.
“Discord wants to make sure policy makers in Washington, D.C., understand how the service works, our efforts to keep users safe and our company’s plans for the future,” according to a statement from the company.
Monument Advocacy will lobby for the company on content moderation and privacy issues, according to a disclosure filed last week.
The hiring, which went into effect two weeks before the shooting, comes as lawmakers ended a long-standing lull in negotiations around a federal privacy law. Lawmakers released a draft federal privacy bill last week, which prioritizes concerns around the sharing of children’s data.
The five lobbyists assigned to Discord include Jeff Gary, who previously worked for Microsoft as a policy analyst on contract.
Monument Advocacy didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Discord recently faced scrutiny after the man accused of killing 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo allegedly posted about his plans on a private Discord server for months, inviting others to view it about a half hour before he acted.
Earlier: Buffalo Massacre Suspect Mapped Plans on Discord App for Months
The tragedy sparked investigations by the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey into whether Discord failed to properly enforce policies on expressions of extremism and hateful conduct.
Discord hosts more than 150 million monthly users.
The platform originally became popular among gamers, but the user base has diversified and increased in popularity since its launch in 2015.
(Updates with details on federal privacy bill in the fourth paragraph)
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