Facebook admits it is setting up its own political action committee to win friends and influence politicians

The point of Facebook has always been to make friends. Now it wants to buy some more – so long as they are American politicians – thanks to a new political action committee (Pac) the company has established.

On Monday, Facebook confirmed to The Hill newspaper that it had officially filed paperwork with the Federal Election Committee to establish FB Pac, which will allow it to legally funnel donations to candidates and political parties it favours.

"FB Pac will give our employees a way to make their voice heard in the political process by supporting candidates who share our goals of promoting the value of innovation to our economy while giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected," Facebook said in a statement.

The move comes as the rapidly-growing social media company – said to be valued at as much as $100bn – becomes more wary about the threats to its position from federal legislation and regulation.

In particular, Facebook chief executive and founder Mark Zuckerberg will be well aware that in the past America's most valuable technology companies have been snared in regulatory traps, and will want to avoid the fate of AT&T, IBM and Microsoft.

Company-based Pacs are common vehicles for US corporations, enabling them to donate $5,000 to candidates per election and a further $15,000 each year to national parties. Google established its own Pac in 2006, which in the 2010 midterm elections distributed more than $300,000 in donations to candidates.

Facebook has recently expanded its political PR efforts in Washington and has spent $550,000 on lobbying in the first half of this year alone, according to the Centre for Responsive Politics.

Some of Facebook's money has gone on hiring political veterans who know their way through Washington's corridors – and inboxes and voicemails – of power.

In June, Joe Lockhart – a former press secretary in the Clinton White House – was named vice president of global communications at Facebook. The company's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, was previously chief of staff to Clinton's Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, while Facebook's Washington DC office is headed by Joel Kaplan, at one time deputy chief of staff for President Bush. Recently it has also hired two Obama administration staff members.

Coincidentally, on Monday Facebook hosted a town hall meeting for up and coming Republican representatives, including Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, and Paul Ryan, chair of the House budget committee.