America’s major tech companies have chosen sides. Thus the news that big tech employees contributed more to Joe Biden’s campaign than any other sector of the economy:
Employees at Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, donated at least $15.1 million to President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, according to Open Secrets.
The donations eclipsed the amount given from employees in the banking and legal sectors, according to The Wall Street Journal. The five companies were also the largest fundraising sources for Biden’s campaign.
Far more important than political contributions are the efforts by the social media platforms and other tech giants to suppress conservative speech. These seemingly-coordinated efforts represent by far the biggest threat to free speech in America today.
It seems clear that the most effective avenue to stop this suppression of conservative speech (or, really, any speech that doesn’t fit the narrative of the moment) is through action at the state level. Legislation intended to protect speech on social media platforms, and on the internet generally, has been introduced in at least 15 or 20 states. Here in Minnesota, I participated in drafting a bill that takes an anti-discrimination approach. It bars discrimination against users or user content on the basis of race, sex, religion or political orientation and provides minimum statutory damages of $50,000, along with attorneys’ fees.
That bill has now been introduced in the Minnesota Senate with multiple sponsors, including the Senate Majority Leader. It soon will be introduced in the House. The bill, S.F. 1253, is recorded here and is embedded below.
I am happy to consult with legislators or others in states where similar legislation might be introduced, and can be reached at [email protected].
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