Leading executives at social-media giants Facebook and Twitter donated tens of thousands of dollars to the campaign of Joe Biden, yet not a cent went to the campaign of President Trump.
According to a review of Federal Election Commission (FEC) records conducted by Fox News, several of the top executives gave the legal maximum of $2,800. The news comes as the tech companies are under scrutiny for suppressing circulation of content related to Hunter Biden’s business dealings in the weeks just prior to Election Day.
The FEC records show that Erin Egan, Facebook vice president of public policy, gave $2,800 to Biden’s campaign on October 1 in addition to $2,800 she donated to the campaign during the Democrat primary.
Facebook chief revenue officer David Fischer also donated the legal maximum of $2,800 to Biden during the primary, along with $750 during the general election.
David Wehner, Facebook’s chief financial officer, donated $2,800 to Biden on April 22.
Four Facebook vice presidents — Gene Alston, Michael Verdu, Shahriar Rabii, and T.S. Khurana — likewise donated $2,800 to the Biden campaign during the 2020 cycle. The chief operating officer of Instagram (which is owned by Facebook), Marne Levine, also donated the maximum limit of $2,800 to Biden.
Also at Facebook, public policy directors Steve Satterfield and Michael Matthews and product manager Brett Keintz, along with director Ibrahim Okuyucu, each donated $2,800 to Biden’s campaign.
And program manager David Debartolo donated $5,600, divided between Biden’s primary and general election campaigns.
At Twitter, meanwhile, vice president Matt Derella donated $2,000 to Biden’s campaign in September. The company’s senior director, Ryan Oliver, gave Biden $2,800 in March. James Kelm, senior director of product management, contributed $2,800 during the primary and another $2,800 during the general election.
FEC records reveal that dozens of Twitter and Facebook employees with “manager” or “director” in their titles donated at least $1,000 to Biden’s campaign.
By contrast, only two Facebook employees with “manager” or “director” in their title donated to President Trump’s campaign; no Twitter employees with those titles donated to the president.
Despite the major imbalance, Twitter spokesman Trenton Kennedy told Fox News that the company has “stated many times — that we enforce the Twitter rules judiciously and impartially for everyone on our service.”
“Political ideology — especially that of our employees — plays no part in this process,” Kennedy claimed.
A Biden aide told the outlet, “No campaign contribution is going to change Joe Biden’s fundamental values, including his belief that corporations who abuse their power should be held to account.”
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh took aim at the social-media firms. “The Silicon Valley mafia was always in the tank for Joe Biden and everyone knew it. It’s why they blocked the sharing of the Hunter Biden story, to protect their boy Joe Biden. That was election interference, plain and simple, while they also targeted President Trump and other Republicans with censorship,” he said. “So it should surprise no one that they have also showered money on him.”
Reports from October suggested that Facebook and Twitter employees had sent more than 90 percent of their political donations to Democrats. An analysis from the conservative watchdog group Media Research Center found that employees at both of the corporations contributed millions in individual donations and PAC donations.
The fact that high-level employees at these companies demonstrates clear conflicts of interest, particularly in light of the fact that, just prior to Election Day, Twitter prevented users from sharing a link to a New York Post report about e-mails shedding light on Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. The e-mails contradicted past claims by Joe Biden that he had no knowledge of his son’s business activities. Facebook similarly limited the article’s distribution on its platform.
Moreover, Twitter suspended accounts of several prominent Republicans who tried sharing the reports, including White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and President Trump’ official reelection campaign Twitter account.
The New American has reported how, beyond ideology, Silicon Valley has several financial interests in seeing Joe Biden become president, such as his support for loosening visa rules and normalizing relations with Cuba, which would allow tech companies to expand their business while saving money by hiring more foreign workers instead of American citizens.
