REVEALED: Facebook and Twitter employees have given $2.7million to Democrats in 2020 - ten times the amount they have donated to Republicans - as big tech faces more accusations of political bias
Facebook and Twitter employees have donated $2.7million to Democrats so far in 2020, ten times the amount they've given to Republicans.
Data harvested by OpenSecrets.org revealed that of the $2.9million staff have donated to political campaigns and PACs this year, ninety percent went to Democrats and only $222,000 went to Republicans.
It's unclear how many donations have been made and how they vary in size.
At Twitter, 98.99 percent - $347,270 - of all employee donations to either political candidates or super PACS has been to Democrats.
Staff there have given just $3,556 to Republicans. Biden has received $66,000 as an individual but the majority of the donations went to organizations.
At Facebook, $2,409,464 out of $2,628,040 went to Democrats. Only $218,576 went to Republicans. Biden's campaign has received $645,152 from them.
Facebook employees gave $2.4million to Democrats and $218,576 to Republicans
99 percent of Twitter donations were to Democrats - $347,270 - and $3,556 to Republicans
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. They both resist sharing their political affiliations but campaign donation data reveals their staff inherently support Democrats
The data contributes to ongoing claims that big tech are bias towards the left and are using their power to try to silence Republicans and Donald Trump.
The row exploded this week when Twitter and Facebook stopped people from sharing a New York Post story which suggested Joe Biden had dealings with a Ukrainian businessman, at the behest of his son Hunter, when Hunter was being paid by the businessman and Biden was Vice President.
Joe Biden has received more than $700,000 from staff at Twitter and Facebook
Facebook questioned the sourcing of the story and said they wanted their own fact checkers to vet it.
The announcement was made by a communications director who used to work for Democrats.
Twitter claimed it stopped sharing of the article because it contained private information. It even locked the Trump campaign's account and the account of Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for posting it.
Republicans responded furiously and accused the two sites of election interference.
Twitter has since reversed the ban on sharing the article. Facebook is yet to change its position or make another statement on the subject.
Twitter's about-turn came on Thursday night after an explosive 24 hours during which Trump's re-election campaign and his White House Press Secretary had their accounts locked for posting links to the Biden story.
GOP senators fumed that users were unable to share information from the New York Post about Bidens and alleged secret emails
The story by The New York Post suggested Biden met with a Ukrainian businessman in 2015, when his son Hunter was being paid by the businessman, and that he then used his power as Vice President to force Ukrainian officials to fire a prosecutor who was looking into the businessman's gas firm.
It contained an email from the businessman to Hunter which had been harvested from a laptop that was mysteriously left in a repair shop in Delaware.
Facebook blocked circulation of the story first, saying it needed to be fact-checked. The social network has not said anything else about it and refuses to answer questions on the subject.
STORIES THAT FACEBOOK AND TWITTER HAD NO PROBLEM WITH
Trump's tax returns - September 2020
The New York Times published a report on September 27 in which it claimed President Trump only paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018.
The story did not include any images of the tax returns the journalist received.
Trump denied it repeatedly saying it was not accurate and that he'd paid millions in taxes.
Facebook and Twitter did not restrict how it was shared online.
Melania tapes - October 2020
CNN published recordings of the First Lady where she was heard cursing and complaining about being given a hard time by the press.
They'd been recorded without her knowledge by her friend, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff in the summer of 2018.
Dirty dossier and Trump's alleged ties with Russia - October 2016
The Steele Dossier, which became known as the 'dirty dossier', was part of an opposition effort to thwart Trump's election chances in 2016.
It contained questionable sourcing and claims that Trump and the Russians had colluded. Among the more outlandish claims was that the President engaged with prostitutes who performed 'golden showers'.
Mother Jones first reported the claims then BuzzFeed picked them up.
The story predates the social networks' vow to crack down more on misinformation.
Then Twitter followed, stopping people from posting links to it and locking the accounts of people who did. The company then claimed, a day later, that it was because the story contained personal information.
Republicans and the media responded with outrage and said the two internet giants were guilty of censorship and election interference.
Twitter changed its position on Thursday night.
'Over the last 24 hours, we've received significant feedback (from critical to supportive) about how we enforced our Hacked Materials Policy yesterday.
'After reflecting on this feedback, we have decided to make changes to the policy and how we enforce it,' Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's global lead for legal, policy, and trust and safety, said.
The links blocked by Twitter contained stories about emails between Hunter Biden and a Ukraine official who claimed he'd been introduced to Joe Biden. It also contained images of Hunter Biden.
The information was provided by Rudy Giuliani to the New York Post after a computer repair store owner said he'd found it on a hard drive.
The store owner said a man who he was unable to identify brought three computers into his store for repair last fall. He said he then made a copy of the emails and images on the hard drive, and provided it to the FBI and to Giuliani, Trump's lawyer.
The New York Post's story purported to expose corrupt dealings by former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden in Ukraine.
The newspaper claimed that the elder Biden, who was in charge of US policy toward Ukraine, took actions to help his son, who in 2014-2017 sat on the board of controversial Ukraine energy company Burisma. But the source for the information raised questions.
The report also made claims about Joe Biden's actions in Ukraine which were contrary to the record.
Facebook blocked the story first then Twitter followed but both were condemned by for the decision.
Dorsey apologized for not providing enough context about why they were clamping down but stood by blocking it, claiming the article contains 'private information' which breaches their policies.
The Biden campaign rejected the assertions of corruption in the report, but has not denied the veracity of the underlying materials, mostly emails between Hunter Biden and business partners.
Trump blasted the two social media giants on Wednesday.
'So terrible that Facebook and Twitter took down the story of 'Smoking Gun' emails related to Sleepy Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in the @NYPost,' Trump posted on Twitter.
'We have seen big tech, we've seen Twitter and Facebook actively interfering in this election in a way that has no precedent in the history of our country,' fumed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz Thursday, as the panel met for its fourth day of hearings on Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
Cruz, Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said the the panel will vote Oct. 20 on issuing the subpoena, with a plan to haul Dorsey before its members Friday October 23, just days before Election Day.
Cruz said the Senate Judiciary Committee would vote next Tuesday to subpoena Dorsey to testify at the end of next week and 'explain why Twitter is abusing their corporate power to silence the press.'
Sen. Lindsey Graham complained by pointing to information that was available in 2016 without being blocked.
'The Steele dossier was all over the place, they never blocked that, all the allegations about Russian collusion and Trump and every other idea that Trump may have done something bad, nobody blocked that,' he said.