Netflix Says Its PAC Is Not About SOPA

From the “yes, sometimes big companies like to influence the way government works” file: After a day of not commenting about its newly formed political action committee, Netflix has come out with a statement about FLIXPAC, after all.

In short: The company, which has been steadily ramping up its lobbying presence in Washington, says the PAC — which allows them to make contributions to individual races — is a logical next step.

But it says it is primarily interested in topics like video privacy laws, which prevent it from integrating with Facebook. And not with hotbutton issues like SOPA/PIPA.

So here you go.

“PACs are commonplace for companies that lead a big, growing market and Netflix is no exception. Our PAC is a way for our employees to support candidates that understand our business and technology.  It was not set up for the purpose of supporting SOPA or PIPA.  Instead, Netflix has engaged on other issues including network neutrality, bandwidth caps, usage based billing and reforming the Video Privacy Protection Act.”

Reminder: Netflix has been particularly vocal about the VPPA since last summer. Last year it boosted its political spending significantly in an effort to change that law.