Reining in Big Tech companies is not possible without being open about their campaign donations that fueled the 2020 election, most of which went to Democrats, according to two Republican senators.
Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley raised concerns about getting meaningful legislation aimed at Silicon Valley passed because the Biden administration and prominent Democrats, who control Congress, could be beholden to financial ties to technology giants.
“Big Tech are the largest financial supporters of Democrats in the country,” Cruz told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. “And so, to date, we have seen occasional rhetoric from Democrats directed at Big Tech, but when they’re your single-biggest donors, it shouldn’t be surprising that Democrats have been far less willing to engage in concrete action to rein in Big Tech.”
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Campaign finance records show employees at five tech companies, including Google’s parent Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook, gave more than $12 million to President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, according to Open Secrets.
Throughout the election cycle, Alphabet gave around $21 million to Democrats, with Amazon contributing around $9.4 million. Biden and Democratic super PACs were among the top recipients. Overall, roughly 80% of Alphabet’s funds went to Democrats, while 7% went to Republicans, according to a report by the Observer.
Hawley said generous donations can have an effect on the way a lawmaker legislates or how the executive branch might function.
“The truth is tech has really made an effort to court this White House and to court the party, and you look at the enormous sums of money that tech poured into the Biden-Harris campaign, that money has an effect,” Hawley told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
The Missouri Republican, who introduced legislation on Monday to “break up” companies such as Amazon and Google, said he wouldn’t be surprised if Democrats don’t get on board.
“The bill I introduced earlier this week that would break up these tech companies, that is not what they give donations to the Biden campaign to get,” Hawley said.
Among the steps the Bust Up Big Tech Act would take to curb tech companies is enhancing resources at the Federal Trade Commission to hire more staff to help hold Silicon Valley to account, make it easier for private citizens to bring lawsuits in the case of antitrust violations, and prevent companies from providing online hosting or cloud services to other companies while operating a search engine, marketplace, or exchange.
Hawley introduced another bill last week, dubbed the Trust-Busting for the Twenty-First Century Act, which aims to crack down on mergers and acquisitions by big corporations, including tech companies, and strengthen antitrust enforcement to pursue the breakup of dominant, anti-competitive firms.
With Democrats in control of the House and Senate, it’s unlikely the Republican’s bill will pass, but he said he’d be willing to work with his colleagues across the aisle on their own versions of legislation. For example, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, proposed antitrust legislation in February that would put barriers in place for companies that easily push out their competitors.
Hawley also dismissed the notion that Democrats may not work with him because of his objection to certifying electoral votes for Biden on Jan. 6, when rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Hawley was the first senator to vow an objection to the votes and one of the few that followed through with his decision after the riot.
“I hope that’s not the case,” he said when asked. “I’ve been willing to work with anybody on any issue if it’s good for ultimately the people in my state and I think [it’s] good policy.”
Cruz also raised the issue of what he believes is censorship of conservatives on online platforms, citing the Twitter ban on former President Donald Trump for what the company referred to as a violation of its “glorification of violence” policy after the Jan. 6 riot.
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“I get they disagree with what he says,” the Texas Republican said of the ban. “I disagree with some of the things he says. But he was the president of the United States. The idea that the president of the United States is not allowed to speak on social media is facially absurd. And it demonstrates the raw arrogance of Big Tech. If they can silence Donald Trump, they can silence you. And they intend to.”
