Fetterman Hires Former Meta Staffer for His Comms Operation

The tech giant has been accused of censoring Palestinians during the Gaza war.

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Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has recently undergone a staff shake-up, amid his increasingly strident defense of Israel and disavowal of the progressive label that he did not shy away from during the 2022 Senate campaign. Three members of Fetterman’s communications team have jumped ship, including both his communications director and deputy communications director, according to a report from The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Multiple sources tell the Prospect that Fetterman’s new replacement for communications director is Carrie Adams, a former congressional comms staffer who more recently spent five years with Meta’s public-policy team.

Fetterman’s hiring of a former Meta employee comes at a time when two progressive senators, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), are embroiled in a dispute with Meta over the platform’s censorship of Palestinians during the Gaza war. The two senators sent a letter to Meta regarding reports that it has selectively targeted Palestinians online for content removal and shadow bans, which the company has thus far refused to respond to. Meta’s own Oversight Board issued a report that found there was a bias in the company’s content moderation policies.

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Well before the current war, Meta was accused of cracking down on the use of the term “Zionist” on the platform, which many deemed as silencing criticism of the state of Israel. According to employees, the company has also instituted a ban on its workers discussing charged political topics such as the Israel-Palestine conflict.

There is no indication that Adams had anything to do with this behavior at Meta. But two of Fetterman’s former communications staffers came from Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign. The career path of this latest hire is notably different.

Fetterman’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but Adams already has a working email set up tied to Fetterman’s Senate office.

Adams held a number of positions at Meta, doing outreach to the White House and federal departments, and focusing on Democratic members of Congress. According to her CV, she directed the company’s efforts to ensure that “every federal level Democrat” uses Meta’s entire suite of tech products to their full potential, including to “begin to explore the metaverse.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Adams specifically led Meta’s “partnership with HHS, NIH, CDC, and the Surgeon General” to work on “partner activation, policy development, and creative campaigns.”

Prior to that, Adams ran digital strategy and communications for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and then-House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). She also previously worked for progressives Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY).

Since the October 7th attacks in Israel, Fetterman has become one of the foremost proponents on the Democratic side for Israel’s war in Gaza, which has drawn ire from anti-war groups and the left flank of the party. While distancing himself from the left, he also cited his more hard-line stance on stricter immigration policies.

Though communications director is not a direct policy role, the Fetterman communications team has been central to his identity during his first year in the Senate. His office took a more digitally native and combative approach than your average senator, employing memes and online humor. That strategy was used to mock Republicans when they tried to make his signature hoodie and shorts attire into a decorum issue, or claimed that he might have “a body double” because of the health problems he experienced after a stroke. Fetterman also went on the attack against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)—“Bobby Gold Bars” as he calls him—after his corruption charges, and became the first senator to call publicly for Menendez to resign.

According to her LinkedIn, Adams left Meta in June of 2023, well before the war broke out. She founded her own independent PR firm in Washington, working with both campaigns and private-sector clients.

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