7 House Republicans Pledge to Refuse Big Tech Money — Jim Jordan Notably Not Among Them

Patrick Semansky/Getty Images

Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) announced Wednesday he was leading a group of House Republicans in pledging to refuse contributions from big technology companies.

“Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Twitter have reached monopoly status in their respective markets,” the group said in a two-page “Pledge for America” statement. They said the companies had “used their monopoly power to stifle innovation,” and accused them of taking “unprecedented” action “to silence political speech they disagree with.”

“The threat posed by these monopolies is a real and present danger to conservatives, libertarians and anyone who does not agree with these corporations’ ultra-liberal points-of-view,” the group said.

Signatories on the statement included Buck, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, along with Republican Reps. Chip Roy (TX), Greg Steube (FL), Ralph Norman (SC), Dan Bishop (NC), Burgess Owens (UT), and Andy Biggs (AZ).

The pledge comes after some discontent among conservatives frustrated with the GOP’s reticence to support more regulation for companies in Silicon Valley, despite targeting them with harsh rhetoric. In one high-profile incident last year, a 37-page House Judiciary Committee memo leaked by Mike Cernovich showed Republicans in leadership seeking to coach members on how to defend tech companies against claims they might be violating antitrust laws, including by convincing conservatives the law should “promote freedom” instead of “punish success.”

The House Judiciary Committee’s top Republican, Rep. Jim Jordan (OH), was notably absent from the list of Republicans who signed Wednesday’s statement, which means it may do little to assuage conservative grumbling on the issue. Jordan has taken the brunt of criticism from conservatives disgruntled with the party’s stance on Big Tech due to his history of taking contributions from the industry, including $10,000 from Google NetPAC last year alone.

The group also singled Google and Facebook as having “colluded to control the ad marketplace,” and said Amazon had demanded that small businesses fork over proprietary data, while Apple taxed “competitors like Spotify” who were forced to use the company’s app store.