Thread by @Pinboard

Facebook's October FEC filing is up. Together with Google, Facebook controls a duopoly on online political advertising in America. But they also put a thumb on the scale—here's their $2,500 donation to anti-abortion hardliner Jim Risch and $3,500 to Republican senator Joni Ernst

I wonder how Theresa Greenfield, who is spending a metric fuckton on Facebook ads, feels about her ad platform making direct political contributions to her opponent

Here's Facebook's 9/29 payment of $2,500 to the "Rely On Your Beliefs Fund", Roy Blunt's leadership PAC, a way for the company to offer indirect support to Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell

It wouldn't be a Facebook filing without a direct donation of $3,000 to Steve Scalise, self-described "David Duke without the baggage", who famously gave a speech at a white nationalist convention and then claimed he didn't realize who his audience was

The North Carolina senate race is one of the closest in the nation, and Facebook (who again is a monopoly ad platform used by both candidates) decides to weigh in on the race with a $2,500 donation to Republican incumbent Thom Tillis

Another close Senate race where Facebook both runs the table (as political ad monopoly) and openly backs one of the candidates is the very close race in Georgia, where Facebook gave $2,500 to climate change denialist David Perdue, last seen mangling Kamala Harris's name

Mike Burgess of Texas, most famous for his riveting comments on fetal masturbation (rewire.news/article/2013/0…), has a long record of anti-LGBT votes. Facebook (risking employee outrage!) gave his campaign $2,000 on September 29.

As a Louisiana state rep, Mike Johnson introduced a "Marriage and Conscience Act" that would have given legal cover to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in his state. As a congressman, he gets checks from Facebook, including this $1,000 donation on 9/29

Sticking to this theme, here's Facebook on September 29 giving $2,000 to Bob Latta, who in 2015 introduced legislation that would have made gay marriage illegal.

And here's Facebook on September 29 giving $2,000 to Kentucky congressman Brett Guthrie, who boasts of a 100% rating from the National Right to Life Committee and co-sponsored a bill that would strip LGBT protections in higher education.

Here's Facebook's $2,500 donation to the Freedom Fund, another way the company indirectly donates to the Trump campaign

Drew Ferguson is a Georgia congressman who voted against the Equality Act, believes abortion should be criminalized, supported Trump's Muslim ban, and has been an enthusiastic proponent of a border wall. In other words, a natural choice for Facebook, who gave him $3,000 on 9/29

Facebook has a long history of donating to climate change denialists, but with this $1,500 donation to Chip Roy in Texas is making its first foray into coronavirus denialism. Roy has claimed the disease is spread by illegals pouring in over the closed Mexican border

A few points that always come up in these threads. First, these PAC donations are completely unnecessary. Apple and IBM both demonstrate that you can be a tech giant without them. Second, the amounts are this small because of campaign finance law—the maximum is $5,000/election

The value of a political donation from Facebook is not just monetary, but a public expression of the fact that the most powerful platform for political advertising in America has your back. Facebook employees have the power to stop this cold, but they won't exercise it.

Who pays into this system? Pretty much every top executive at the company—Sheryl Sandberg, @boztank, Zuckerberg himself (when he's not busy writing his latest apology). Good luck getting any of them to explain why they continue giving money to the worst people in Congress

I would say it's time to flip the "IT HAS BEEN [x] DAYS SINCE EMPLOYEES WERE OUTRAGED sign over at Facebook HQ, but this stuff doesn't even make a blip.