Shares of Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. FB, -0.54% dropped 0.8% in morning trading Wednesday, reversing earlier intraday gains of as much as 1%, after the Wall Street Journal reported that the social-media and metaverse company looked to divide lawmakers along party lines to forestall any bipartisan attempt to install tougher rules on social-media platforms. Citing people described as familiar with the conversations, the report said Facebook’s Washington team called Republican lawmakers to push the narrative that former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen was trying to help Democrats, while at the same time calling Democrats to warn them that Republicans were focused on Facebook’s decision to ban expressions of support for Kyle Rittenhouse, who was charged with killing two people during civil unrest in Wisconsin, and later acquitted. The report said Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told employees not to apologize. Meta’s stock has gained 1.2% over the past three months and has rallied 25.8% this year, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.13% has advanced 9.8% in the past three months and has run up 27.4% in 2021.
