Qualcomm, a multinational corporation that specializes in wireless technologies, has been called the most conservative company in Big Tech in terms of the percentage of employee donations to Republicans. Even then, political donations from Qualcomm employees are still split 50/50 between Democrats and Republicans.
The most conservative tech company, as measured by employee donations to republicans, is Qualcomm — and it donates 50% to republicans and 50% to Democrats. https://t.co/v0T6ckzPGj
— Jay Yarow (@jyarow) July 2, 2020
“The most conservative tech company, as measured by employee donations to republicans, is Qualcomm — and it donates 50% to republicans and 50% to Democrats,” Jay Yarow tweeted Thursday.
With the 2020 elections only a few months away, the partisan gap in Big Tech has widened as tech employees send far greater sums of money to Democrats, CNBC reported. President Donald Trump has long criticized tech companies for their reported anti-conservative bias. The tech industry, meanwhile, has criticized many of Trump’s policies, especially immigration, CNN reported.
Fundraising data from the Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets revealed that each of the 17 tech companies valued at more than $100 billion saw at least 50% of their employee donations go to Democrats, including to presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and to congressional candidates, CNBC reported.
OpenSecrets data on Netflix, for example, revealed 98% of employee donations went to Democrats. More specifically, Democrats received $340,485 while Republicans received $7,124, making Netflix the most liberal company in Big Tech, according to CNBC.
Fundraising data on Qualcomm, on the other hand, revealed a roughly 50/50 split between donations to Democrats and to Republicans. More specifically, Democrats received $289,336 while Republicans received $284,119, making Qualcomm the most conservative company in Big Tech, according to CNBC.
The tech industry’s support for the Democrats has held steady even though the industry has come under fire from Democrats over issues like market power and election interference, according to The Hill. (RELATED: Democrats Call To Regulate Big Tech While Raising Money Off Big Tech Execs)
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer with other Congressional Democrats (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Facebook, for example, faced backlash from the Biden campaign after it refused to take down a Facebook post from the president that the campaign believed was a threat to violence. However, last week Facebook announced it would be expanding its hate speech rules and flagging content that violated its user policies, including from public officials like Trump.
OpenSecrets data on Facebook revealed 77% of employee donations went to Democrats. More specifically, Democrats received $1,634,153 while Republicans received $480,133, CNBC reported.
Amazon is another company that has been criticized repeatedly by the president, who in 2018 said the company did not operate on an “even playing field.” Trump has also been critical of Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos over his ownership of The Washington Post.
So sorry to hear the news about Jeff Bozo being taken down by a competitor whose reporting, I understand, is far more accurate than the reporting in his lobbyist newspaper, the Amazon Washington Post. Hopefully the paper will soon be placed in better & more responsible hands!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2019
OpenSecrets data on Amazon revealed 77% of employee donations went to Democrats. More specifically, Democrats received $2,677,112 while Republicans received $783,349, CNBC reported.
Google, which is owned by the parent company Alphabet, previously came under fire after internal communications between employees revealed discussions of censoring conservative media outlets. Google’s search algorithm was also reportedly creating blacklists of “fringe domains.” The company had even once offered to create a censored search engine for China.
OpenSecrets data on Google revealed 88% of employee donations went to Democrats. More specifically, Democrats received $5,437,048 while Republicans received $766,920, CNBC reported.