Was vested interest behind Parler ban? Joe Biden targeted over alleged 'closeness' with Big Tech firms
Ever since major social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook banned President Donald Trump from using them after the president allegedly incited violence that rocked the Capitol Hill on January 6, his supporters have counter-accused the tech giants of being biased against him. The accusations have become stronger after Parler, a conservative social media site, faced suspension by major tech firms including Google and Apple.
Conservative news website BizPac Review said in a report published on Monday, January 11, that at least 14 people who President-elect Joe Biden has picked either to serve in his administration taking over on January 20 or to advise his transition have been associated with “Big Tech firms that cracked down earlier this week on President Donald Trump and a social media site popular with conservatives”.
The piece said while a former top lobbyist in Apple has been part of the Biden transition team as a chief advisor, a former Facebook executive will be a staff director in the Biden White House and a former executive at Twitter will be the chief spokesperson for the National Security Council under the new president. It also said current and former executives at those firms besides Google and Amazon will either occupy positions in Biden’s administrative team or are already in his transition team.
Jessica Hertz, who was earlier the director for Facebook’s regulatory team, will be the Biden White House staff director. Emily Horne, who was once the head of global policy communications for Twitter, will be the spokesperson for the National Security Council, as per the Biden-Kamala Haris transition website. Last September, Politico reported that Biden brought in Cynthia Hogan, Apple’s top lobbyist, to serve on his transition team. Hogan is a longtime advisor to the former vice president and worked for him when he was the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1980s and 1990s.
“The five tech giants all took action this week against Trump and Parler, the social media site, in response to riots at the US Capitol on Wednesday,” the BPR article said.
The article said while many GOP members have criticized Trump and his supporters who breached the Capitol, the "social media purge" involving the removal of Parler has raised concerns that the major tech firms have excessive control over communication platforms. It though said that there is no indication that the Biden transition team was involved in the tech giants' decisions to suspend Trump and Parler but added that the conservatives are anxious that they will be targeted even more by the Biden administration because of the tech firms' closeness with the Democrats.
Silicon Valley working behind the scenes: report
Last month, CNBC reported that Silicon Valley is active behind the scenes to bag “senior roles for tech allies in lesser-known but still vital parts of Biden’s administration, even as the pushback against Big Tech from progressive groups and regulators grows”.
It added that the Biden transition team has already filled its agency review teams with more tech executives than critics besides bringing on board many officials from Big Tech firms that were top donors to his campaign. It also cited four informed sources to report that executives at tech giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft were eyeing senior roles at government agencies.
CNBC also reported that many company executives, who also helped raise money for the Biden campaign or have ties to those on his transition team, still have a big commercial interest in backing candidates who have industry links at the justice department and the Federal Trade Commission -- both of which are probing whether Big Tech abused its market power. It, however, cited sources to say that focus on those agencies from progressive interest groups and the Congress would make it harder for Silicon Valley to succeed.
These remarks were made by the Internet and individual organizations, MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and nor does it support these claims being made on the Internet.