GOP congressmen say they'll refuse funds from tech companies that won't donate to them

A group of seven House Republicans are vowing to refuse to take contributions from tech companies they deem to be biased against conservatives. But many of those firms are already withholding contributions to five of those lawmakers over their attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

“Big Tech’s censorship and anticompetitive behavior are a threat to every American’s liberties,” North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop tweeted on Wednesday. “I am proud to announce I am joining @BuckForColorado to refuse any contribution from these companies.”

He quoted Colorado Rep. Ken Buck’s announcement that they were “pledging to no longer accept campaign donations from Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, Twitter, their Political Action Committees, or individual donations from any executive employee.” Buck, a vocal critic of tech companies, received thousands in PAC donations from those companies in the last campaign cycle but said last month he would now stop accepting them.

According to the New York Times, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Burgess Owens of Utah, Greg Steube of Florida, and Chip Roy of Texas also took Buck’s pledge.

But for Biggs, Bishop, Norman, Owens, and Steube, this is really not much of a sacrifice.

On Jan. 6, each of the five voted to reject President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.

In the days after, a wide array of corporations — including several tech giants — announced that they would freeze or discontinue political action committee contributions to the 147 House and Senate Republicans who did so.

“We have frozen all NetPAC political contributions while we review and reassess its policies following last week’s deeply troubling events,” a Google spokesperson said on Jan. 11.

Facebook and Amazon did the same.

On Feb. 5, Microsoft announced it would “suspend contributions for the duration of the 2022 election cycle to all members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of electors.”

This would indicate that Biggs, Bishop, Norman, Owens, and Steube are unlikely to receive donations from those PACs any time soon.

Neither Apple nor Twitter even operates political action committees, making those boycotts truly meaningless.

The New York Times also noted Wednesday that neither Bishop nor Owens had ever received money from those company PACs.

For several years, Republicans have repeatedly accused technology companies and Internet media firms of being censoring conservatives — while taking thousands of dollars from their political action committees.

A February report by researchers at the New York University Stern Center for Business and Human Rights debunked these bias claims as “a falsehood with no reliable evidence to support it,” finding “No trustworthy largescale studies have determined that conservative content is being removed for ideological reasons or that searches are being manipulated to favor liberal interests.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.