PALO ALTO, Calif., April 9 (UPI) — The launch of Mark Zuckerberg’s political group in Silicon Valley has been delayed after an embarrassing memo was leaked, a source close to the situation said.
The memo was written by Joe Green, one of Zuckerberg’s roommates at Harvard University, where Zuckerberg first began working on Facebook, the social network Web site that he now runs.
Zuckerberg is reportedly spending tens of millions of dollars to launch a political advocacy group made up of technology company executives that will focus on immigration reform, as well as education reform and science, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
The launch of the group, which does not yet have a name, was expected to be Monday but was been delayed.
The memo said Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Marc Andreesssen had signed up to join the group, but the newspaper Politico has said they have yet to join.
The memo said the “people in tech” have the potential to be “one of the most powerful political forces” as they are “broadly popular” and include “individuals with a lot of money.”
The memo was first leaked to Politico, the Times said.
Green issued an apology saying, “some of the information contained in this email is outdated and not representative of the kind of work this organization will perform. Moreover, I regret some of the language in the email was poorly chosen and could give a [mistaken] impression of the views and aspirations of this organization and those associated with it.”
“If they turn into a strong and influential organization, no one is going to remember the memo. Now all they have to do is turn into a strong and influential organization,” said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.
Copyright 2013 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
