Facebook censorship board member Helle Thorning-Schmidt claimed on Thursday that free speech is not a human right. On the same day, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki admitted the Biden administration is colluding with corrupt Big Tech companies to silence anything they deem “problematic” on social media.
There’s no denying Big Tech is the biggest threat to free expression in the United States and the most blatant violators of antitrust efforts. They silence conservatives, including a former US president and a member of Congress; participate in Orwellian reeducation initiatives; interfere in our elections; suppress anything deemed “offensive” or “disinformation”; help build China’s oppressive surveillance state; and obliterate alternative platforms by robbing them of digital infrastructure.
The only way to protect the First Amendment and make the digital sphere open to competition is for Congress to step in and upend Big Tech’s complete immunity from liability under Section 230 and break up the monopolies.
But how can Republican congressmen and women fight the tech oligarchs if they are simultaneously receiving tens of thousands of dollars from them? While Big Tech contributes significantly more money to Democrats, Republicans still receive a substantial amount of political donations.
Indeed, over 200 Republican members of Congress in the House and Senate received campaign contributions in 2020 from Political Action Committees (PACs) affiliated with Amazon, Google (which also owns Nest and Waze), and Facebook (which owns Instagram and WhatsApp). Twitter, Apple, and Snapchat do not appear to make PAC contributions to candidates.
In April, seven House Republicans vowed to reject any campaign contributions from Big Tech companies. Those Republicans include Reps. Ken Buck (Colo.), Chip Roy (Texas), Greg Steube (Fla.), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Dan Bishop (N.C.), Burgess Owens (Utah) and Andy Biggs (Ariz.).
Why didn’t House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy join them? Would that not have been a powerful statement? It’s probably because the biggest receivers of Big Tech donations aren’t the seven men who vowed to reject them, but members in GOP leadership and those who have significant influence in powerful committees like Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Financial Services, and Appropriations.
Following the certification of the 2020 presidential election, corporate America (including Big Tech) punished members of Congress who refused to certify the election by announcing a pause on donations for those who did not vote to certify. Their public announcement was a statement to America: Big Tech has power over Republican members of Congress.
This was all the more reason for Republicans, whether they voted to certify or not, to band together and tell Big Tech “we don’t need your money and we don’t want your money.” But — seven men excepted — they didn’t.
This election cycle is the year members of Congress must sever ties with Big Tech. They should not even take meetings with these companies, so long as they are actively building unethical Chinese spyware, annihilating American’s first amendment rights, and actively destroying any semblance of free and fair elections.
Here are 20 GOP Congressional leaders who took the most campaign contributions from Big Tech in 2020 and should take zero dollars in 2021, beginning with House leadership:
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Republican Minority Leader
Google: $10,000
Amazon: $10,000
Facebook: $5,000
Total: $25,000
Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), Republican Conference Chairwoman and Member of Education and Labor, Armed Services, and Intelligence Committees
Google: $10,000
Amazon: : $10,000
Facebook: $1,500
Total: $21,500
Rep. Steve Scalise (La.), Republican Whip and Member of Energy and Commerce Committee
Google: $10,000
Amazon: $0
Facebook: $8,000
Total: $18,000
Rep. Drew Ferguson (Ga.), Chief Deputy Whip and Member of Ways and Means Committee
Google: $10,000
Amazon: $1,000
Facebook: $5,000
Total: $16,000
Other representatives and senators who should stop accepting money from Big Tech include, in order of total donation amount from Google, Amazon, and Facebook:
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee
Google: $10,000
Amazon: $10,000
Facebook: $6,000
Total: $26,000
Rep. Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee
Google: $10,000
Amazon: $5,000
Facebook: $9,000
Total: $24,000
Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Ranking Member of the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee
Google: $10,0000
Amazon: $8,000
Facebook: $4,500
Total: $22,500
Rep. Darin LaHood (Ill.), Member of the House Ways and Means Committee
Google: $10,000
Amazon: $10,000
Facebook: $2,000
Total: $22,000
Sen. Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
Google: $9,000
Amazon: $6,000
Facebook: $6,000
Total: $21,000
Rep. Kevin Brady (Texas), Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee
Google: $10,000
Amazon: $7,500
Facebook: $2,500
Total: $20,000
Rep. Robert Latta (Ohio), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
Google: $7,500
Amazon: $7,500
Facebook: $5,000
Total: $20,000
Rep. Rodney Davis (Ill.), Ranking Member of the House Administration Committee
Google: $10,000
Amazon: $9,500
Facebook: $0
Total: $19,500
Rep. Kay Granger (Texas), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee
Google: $9,500
Amazon: $10,000
Facebook: $0
Total: $19,500
Rep. Brett Guthrie (Ky.), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittees on Health and Oversight and Investigations
Google: $7,500
Amazon: $7,500
Facebook: $4,000
Total: $19,000
Rep. Jeff Duncan (S.C.), Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee
Google: $10,000
Amazon: $3,500
Facebook: $4,500
Total: $18,000
Rep. Michael Burgess (Texas), Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Ranking Member of the House Rules Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process
Google: $7,500
Amazon: $5,000
Facebook: $5,000
Total: $17,500
Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.), Ranking Member of the House Education and Labor Committee
Google: $7,500
Amazon: $10,000
Facebook: $0
Total: $17,500
Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Member of the Senate Small Business Committee
Google: $9,000
Amazon: $7,500
Facebook: $0
Total: $16,500
Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property
Google: $4,000
Amazon: $7,500
Facebook: $5,000
Total: $16,500
Sen. Mike Rounds (S.D.), Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Armed Services Committee
Google: $8,000
Amazon: $5,000
Facebook: $3,500
Total: $16,500
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