Breitbart Sides With McCarthy Over GOP Infighting on Tech, Blasts GOP Rep. Ken Buck For Taking Money from Fox Corp.

Breitbart News is taking aim at Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) for his sponsorship of a bill that would give media companies more power to negotiate with tech giants.

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which Buck is supporting as a co-sponsor, would allow for a 48-month “safe harbor” period in which publishers would be able to negotiate collectively with big tech companies, particularly Google and Facebook, which have played a role in eroding the news industry’s revenue over the last several years. The move would temporarily suspend antitrust regulations that normally prevent such bargaining.

However, Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle took issue with the proposal in a Monday column, writing that Buck had “raked in at least $18,000 from lobbyists, special interest groups, and PACs for organizations that support the legislation he is championing.”

Citing around $7,000 in contributions Buck received from registered lobbyists, $5,000 from the National Association of Broadcasters, and $6,000 from political action committees connected to Fox News’ parent company, News Corp., Breitbart’

s report said the money money constituted a “steady stream …  in campaign donations from lobbyists for special interest groups and corporations that would stand to benefit significantly if the bill became law. The publication also accused Buck of refusing to “cooperate” with Breitbart, noting that his staff had declined to comment, and claimed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had made an unusual move by expressing his opposition to the proposal.

“McCarthy’s move to announce opposition to the bill — a huge move for any party leader in either the minority or majority to weigh in against specific legislation — brought to a screeching halt any more momentum behind the bill,” the publication said. “But Buck went to work quietly — along with a group of the bill’s most cash-flush special interests — over the past several weeks since McCarthy’s announced opposition, to build what he claims is broad conservative media support for the bill.”

The issue has been a contentious one among Republicans. Many of the party’s rank-and-file voters would like to see Washington take more regulatory action against tech companies, even as many of their elected officials in Congress take hefty campaign contributions from those same companies. FEC records indicate McCarthy took $10,000 from a PAC connected to Google for the 2020 election cycle alone, along with $10,519 from a Facebook PAC or the company’s employees.

Nor was Buck alone in taking

money from Fox Corp. PAC. Records indicate that organization donated $96,500 in the last election, as well as $91,000 to Democrats. News Corp. PAC partially closed that gap, giving $22,000 to Democrats and $18,500 to Republicans.

Buck has played a role in accentuating the battle lines over Big Tech — to the ire of his party’s leaders, who fear that it may cost them cash. He led six other House Republicans last month in taking a pledge to reject money from the tech industry, including Reps. Chip Roy (TX), Greg Steube (FL), Ralph Norman (SC), Dan Bishop (NC), Burgess Owens (UT), and Andy Biggs (AZ).

The development with Breitbart indicates the website might be leaning more in favor of GOP leaders on the issue.

“Establishment media companies … would potentially stand to gain financially from this legislation should it ever become law, because it would carve out an exemption in antitrust law for them that would allow them to collectively bargain with big tech companies to reach payout agreements for media content creators from the tech platforms,” the publication added. “Perhaps that’s why their allies in the D.C. swamp are so keen on funding the campaigns of members of Congress willing to do their bidding.”