Tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook and Netflix spent millions during the 2016 campaign cycle. But issues over privacy and election meddling could be a liability for presidential hopefuls trying to court a 2020 electorate.
While Sen. Elizabeth Warren was railing against big tech companies, she was taking their money plenty of it.
The Massachusetts Democrat, who is powering her presidential campaign with a bold proposal to break up the likes of Amazon, Google and Facebook, accepted a $2,700 contribution from Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer. But Sandberg, whose donation went unnoticed at the time, was just the biggest name from Silicon Valley to give to the senator: Warren took at least $90,000 from employees of Amazon, Google and Facebook alone between 2011 and 2018.
At the same time, Warren hasn’t weaned herself off of tech employee money or their services. Warren’s campaign, for example, continues to buy ads through Facebook, and her books are still on Amazon.
Her reliance on the massive companies underscore tech’s pervasiveness in politics and society at large, but also politicians’ unwillingness to separate themselves from its legion of employees who give money.
In 2016, one of Warren’s current presidential competitors, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), received $361,000 from employees of Google’s parent company, Alphabet; $170,000 from employees of Microsoft; $132,000 from Apple employees; and $106,000 from Amazon employees.
So watch carefully.
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