With the exception of Twitter, which has refused to reinstate Laura Loomer’s account following the conservative activist’s victory in the Republican primary to contest Florida’s 21st congressional district earlier this week, Big Tech has remained silent on whether it will reverse permanent bans placed on her by many companies.
Loomer, now a candidate for a major party in a congressional election, remains banned from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, PayPal, GoFundMe, Venmo, Uber, and Lyft. All of these platforms remain open to her Democrat opponent, Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL).
President Trump congratulated Loomer on her win on Twitter following the announcement of results on Tuesday.
The tech platforms that previously banned Loomer have largely remained silent on whether they will reinstate her now that she is an official Republican party candidate. Facebook, PayPal, and GoFundMe have yet to respond to Breitbart News’ request for comment.
Twitter is the exception: the platform confirmed to Breitbart News that Loomer’s account will not be reinstated, despite her primary win.
“The account owner you referenced was permanently suspended for repeated violations of the Twitter Rules, and we do not plan to reverse that enforcement action,” said a Twitter spokesman.
Now that Loomer is a Republican candidate, it is leading to renewed calls for tech censorship to be looked at as an illegal in-kind campaign contribution.
According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), corporations are banned from making free contributions, including “any services, or anything of value” to federal candidates. Because of this, Loomer’s lawyers have argued that social media companies are breaching FEC regulations by granting her Democrat opponent access to their platform while denying it to her.
Following Loomer’s primary win, the conservative think tank American Principles Project (APP) wrote a letter to the FEC calling on the Commission to once again consider the matter of tech censorship as a campaign contribution issue.
via Politico:
“Under normal circumstances, it would arguably be well within those companies’ rights to take this action,” wrote Jon Schweppe, director of government affairs at APP. “But given that Loomer is now a major party nominee for U.S. Congress, a reassessment may be warranted.”
Schweppe asks the agency to look into whether the tech companies can “legally grant a material benefit to one political candidate, but not another” and whether denying one political candidate access to their services amounts to “an in-kind contribution to the favored candidate.”
Breitbart News will continue to report on Big Tech’s election interference.
Are you an insider at Google, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, or any other tech company who wants to confidentially reveal wrongdoing or political bias at your company? Reach out to Allum Bokhari at his secure email address allumbokhari@protonmail.com.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. His book #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election is out in September.