SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey declined to host a fundraiser for US presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (Democrat-Hawaii) late last year when she approached him. According to ReCode, Dorsey, who has given donations to Gabbard’s campaign was hesitant to publicly back candidates.
One reason could be the fact that Gabbard is critical of big tech companies including Twitter, the report said on Thursday. “Gabbard, a member of Congress from Hawaii, has said that as president, she would “absolutely” consider breaking up Twitter too, along with other tech companies that she deems “monopolies” that are “censoring” critical voices.
Dorsey donated $2,800 to Gabbard’s 2020 campaign last June, according to a Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing. He also contributed $1,000 to former tech executive Andrew Yang in March.
After Dorsey received criticism for his donations to candidates, he tweeted. “I’ve made personal contributions because I appreciate Andrew’s focus on the coming displacement of work due to AI and automation, and Tulsi’s strong anti-war stance. Along with systematically addressing climate change and economic injustice, these are the key issues of global consequence I want to see considered and discussed more.”
Gabbard sued Google last year, alleging the tech giant violated her right to “free speech” when it briefly suspended her campaign’s advertising account. Gabbard, however, has never met Dorsey, who is also CEO of financial services company Square.
“I had not met or spoken to him. I saw that the contribution was made and reached out and said ‘thank you so much,’ and he expressed his support for my candidacy,” she told a reporter recently. Gabbard, however, acknowledged that Twitter would “absolutely” be among the companies that she would consider breaking up.
The outspoken, independent-minded Democratic Congresswoman has hit Hillary Clinton with a $50-million suit alleging that the defeated presidential candidate defamed her by calling her a “Russian Asset.” IANS
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