Facebook, Twitter execs donated big bucks to Biden while blocking Hunter news
Daily News Article — Posted on December 16, 2020
The revelation comes amid accusations from President Trump and other Republicans that Silicon Valley is censoring conservative voices, sparking a push for the companies to lose their liability protections (which they have under Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act).
A review of Federal Election Commission records show Facebook’s vice president of public policy and chief privacy officer, Erin Egan, donated $99,440.01 to Democrats and Biden in the final weeks of the race.
Egan donated the maximum contribution of $2,800 to the former veep’s White House bid on Sept. 8 and Oct. 1 before ponying up a whopping $55,000 for the Biden Victory Fund and $35,500 for the Democratic National Committee.
According to Biden’s website, the Biden Victory Fund is a joint fundraising effort among his campaign, the DNC, and the 47 state parties to help defeat Trump.
[Egan] made no contributions to President Trump’s campaign.Likewise, Facebook’s chief financial officer, David Wehner, donated $2,800 apiece to Biden’s campaign and Democrat Amy McGrath’s failed bid to unseat Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky.
David Fischer, Facebook’s chief revenue officer, donated $2,800 to Biden’s bid during the Democratic primary, according to FEC records, and another $750 during the general election.
But Fischer also donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic challengers in other key races, including Jamie Harrison’s unsuccessful campaign against Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Mark Kelly and John Hickenlooper’s successful Senate races in Arizona and Colorado.
A number of Facebook vice presidents and (Facebook owned) Instagram’s chief financial officer also donated the maximum $2,800 to Biden’s White House bid.
At Twitter, dozens of senior employees also donated almost exclusively to Democrats and Biden.
Twitter’s vice president Matt Derella donated $2,000 to Biden’s campaign in September, while senior director of product management James Kelm made two donations totaling $5,600 to Biden, FEC records show.
Representatives from Twitter and Facebook declined to comment. The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to request for comment Tuesday.
The companies have been under fire after they both sought to block sharing of The Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s shadowy business deals in the Ukraine and China, with Twitter locking the newspaper’s account for two weeks (responding to those who tried to open it “this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful.” Facebook blocked the Post’s story from being shared, claiming it was potential misinformation.)
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was forced to apologize after the social media giant blocked its users from sharing the story, calling the decision “unacceptable.”
Trump [is calling for an end to] Section 230 liability protections for the companies; Section 230 provides a legal shield to tech companies for content on their sites.
Published at nypost .com. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from the New York Post.
Questions
1. How much did each of the following executives give to the Joe Biden presidential campaign and to the Democrats?
a) Erin Egan, Facebook’s vice president of public policy and chief privacy officer
b) Facebook’s chief financial officer, David Wehner
c) Facebook’s chief revenue officer, David Fischer
d) Twitter's vice president Matt Derella
e) Twitter’s senior director of product management James Kelm
2. a) In addition to the specific donations made by the executives above, what does the reporter note about a number of Facebook vice presidents?
b) What does the reporter note about dozens of other senior employees at Twitter?
3. a) What did both Twitter and Facebook attempt to do to the New York Post’s exposé on Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden?
b) How did the companies attempt to justify censoring a major news story?
4. Do you think the Facebook and Twitter executives’ strong financial support for Joe Biden and Democrats was the reason for the companies censoring the story that would have hurt Biden should voters have read about it? Explain your answer.
5. If Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google and YouTube censored reports critical of President Trump, while also running negative stories on Joe Biden, would your reaction to this article be different? Explain your answer.
CHALLENGE: Read the links under “Resources.” Do you think the news media (CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, The New York Times, etc.) and social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…) were helping news consumers/customers by blocking/banning/censoring the information from them? Explain your answer.