Facebook has joined with big banks and other major corporations who are halting political spending following last week’s riot on Capitol Hill.
The company is halting political contributions “for at least the first quarter of 2021,” according to Axios.
J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley all decided in recent days that they would freeze spending by their political action committee in the wake of the violence at the Capitol Building.
Tech companies, like Wall Street firms, once gave heavily to both Republican and Democratic politicians, saying they were seeking to advance certain policies rather than promote a particular political party. Cynics often said that big corporate donors were looking to force politicians to curry favor and that the companies sought to benefit by exploiting weaknesses in divided government.
In recent years, however, the contributions have skewed left. Particularly in Silicon Valley, companies have come under pressure from highly politicized employees to reject Republican and conservative politicians and policies. Many of America’s biggest companies reacted to last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests and riots by pledging support to related groups.