Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Wednesday called for lawmakers to reject big tech PAC money to ensure that Congress can hold America’s largest technology companies accountable.
Gaetz’s charge follows as Facebook and Twitter decided to censor a New York Post article saying that, contrary to Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden’s claims, he allegedly met with an executive at Burisma when he was vice president. Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, reportedly arranged the meeting while he was working as a lobbyist for the company.
Facebook and Twitter’s censorship led to outrage from lawmakers such as Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). Hawley called for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate how the social media giants’ censorship could act as an in-kind contribution to the Joe Biden presidential campaign.
Gaetz, in response to big tech censorship, called on lawmakers to reject any donations from big tech PACs.
“If my fellow Representatives would join me in refusing all PAC money from Big Tech, it would look less like Big Tech gets away with everything because they buy off Congress,” Gaetz said.
If my fellow Representatives would join me in refusing all PAC money from Big Tech, it would look less like Big Tech gets away with everything because they buy off Congress.
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 15, 2020
Gaetz’s call to reject big tech PAC money is even more poignant considering he sits on the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee.
Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), another member of the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, told Breitbart News Daily host Alex Marlow in July that he will no longer accept donations from America’s largest technology companies:
Steube pledged to no longer accept donations from Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon. He told Breitbart News Daily, “The moment that we got done, and I think it was something that I was watching on Fox News, I texted my chief and I said, ‘Hey, have we ever taken money from any of these companies because I don’t know if you watched Tucker Carlson last night, but he kind of went after Jim Jordan; he kind of went after Sensenbrenn for taking money from Google.’ And he said, ‘No, we’ve only taken $1,000 from Google.’ And I told him, ‘No more, we’re not accepting any more money from any of these companies.’
Gaetz and Steube’s pledge not to take big tech donations serves as a call for other lawmakers to do the same.
“Last night, after what I saw and after obviously what is truly going on, I told my campaign staff we’re not accepting any more campaign donations from any of these companies,” Steube added.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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