Facebook on Thursday said it would once again contribute money to campaigns through its political action committee, but it highlighted that it would not give cash to the members of Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 election, all Republicans.
The announcement means the technology giant won’t make political contributions to 147 Republican lawmakers, 139 House members, and eight senators, including Sens. Ted Cruz from Texas and Josh Hawley from Missouri.
“While a contribution to a candidate for office does not mean that we agree with every policy or position that candidate may espouse, we believe this decision is appropriate given the unprecedented events in January,” Brian Rice, a public policy director at Facebook, wrote in a letter to employees that was obtained by Buzzfeed.
Most PACs, like Facebook’s, are created to allow employees to pool their money voluntarily to support federal candidates who can help steer public policy in a favorable direction for the company.
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Facebook is under significant scrutiny from the government as it is being sued by the Federal Trade Commission and 48 states and territories that claim the Big Tech giant engages in illegal anti-competitive conduct.
Facebook announced it would freeze all political donations for at least three months less than a week after the attack on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
A number of corporations, including Morgan Stanley, American Express, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Comcast, and Marriott International, announced earlier this year that they were suspending their political donations to lawmakers who objected to the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory in the 2020 election.
During the 2020 election cycle, the Facebook PAC gave over $36,000 to the campaigns of at least 13 Republicans who objected to certifying the election, according to data from OpenSecrets.org, a campaign finance website.
This included donations to prominent Republicans, including House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, both of whom voted against certifying some of the 2020 election results.
Overall, Facebook employees gave over 90% of their political contributions to Democrats in 2020, with Republicans only receiving 8% of their donations.
In the past month, a number of prominent Republicans have hit back against Big Tech companies, pledging to stop taking campaign donations from them in the hope of pressuring others to follow their lead and create a movement that they say will reduce anti-conservative censorship and anti-competitive behavior.
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This includes Cruz and some senior House Republicans, including Rep. Ken Buck, the top GOP member on the House antitrust panel, and seven others.
