Former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon tried to spy on Facebook and its hiring practices, according to BuzzFeed.
Facebook, which has faced plenty of controversy lately for its role in selling ads to Russian accounts that looked to disrupt the 2016 presidential election, was reportedly looking to hire for a position that worked on the Facebook-owned WhatsApp.
Ultimately, that job reportedly went to a former director on Barack Obama’s National Security Council, but not before Bannon and his conservative Breitbart buddies brainstormed how they could infiltrate the process on a fact-finding mission. This idea was reportedly discussed shortly before Bannon linked up with Trump.
According to BuzzFeed, Family Research Council’s Chris Gacek shared a Public Policy Manager job listing with Bannon, saying, “This seems perfect for Breitbart to flood the zone with candidates of all stripe who will report back to you.” Bannon reportedly forwarded the email to Breitbart’s former tech editor, Milo Yiannopoulos, who in turn “forwarded Bannon’s request to a group of contracted researchers, one of whom responded that it “Seems dificult [sic] to do quietly without them becoming aware of efforts.’”
Though conservatives worry that tech giants like Facebook are too liberal in who they hire—that apparently was the reason Bannon wanted to see what the hiring process was like—Facebook has recently brought on former staffers from the George W. Bush administration and the office of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
It’s unclear if Bannon and Breitbart actually made headway in trying to land the Facebook job.
Neither Bannon, Gacek, nor Yiannopoulos responded to BuzzFeed’s request for comment. Facebook did not immediately return a Daily Dot request for comment on Monday.
H/T BuzzFeed
