After the attack on America's Capitol, some big tech companies have withdrawn their funding until the situation has died down. Now, Microsoft has joined the ranks of businesses that have made a stance against the recent events.
What Microsoft Has Said About Its Political Backing
This development comes to us from CNBC, after Microsoft's Political Action Committee (PAC) declared its intentions.
The PAC is funded by Microsoft employees, who can put a small portion of their income towards the scheme. This money is then spent as the committee decides.
However, after the Capitol attack, Microsoft has announced that it will no longer provide political funding until things get better. As a result, Microsoft joins other big tech companies such as Facebook to halt its financial support until things get better.
Microsoft had the following to say on the matter:
Microsoft’s political action committee decided last Friday that it will not make any political donations until after it assesses the implications of last week’s events. The PAC regularly pauses its donations in the first quarter of a new Congress, but it will take additional steps this year to consider these recent events and consult with employees.
As such, it seems that big tech will keep their fingers out of politics until the current situation has resolved itself.
The Internet's Reaction to the Capitol Siege
If you haven't been keeping tabs on the technology world after recent events, many big businesses took a stance in some way or another after the protests. By withdrawing its funding, Microsoft has officially become part of this herd.
The tsunami of withdrawals began with the social media platforms that hosted the current president's opinions and thoughts. Both Facebook and Instagram banned Donald Trump's accounts from their platforms, followed shortly after by Twitter.
Then, communities and websites dedicated to the alt-right began to vanish. For instance, Google, Apple, and Amazon got rid of Parler, a social media website that hosted extreme right-wing views.
It may seem like a devastating wave of takedowns, but in truth, this move may not be as brave as we may think. At the time of writing, President Donald Trump has only nine days until his term ends, which means the above accounts and websites won't be used nearly as much as they were during the term.
As such, these moves may be companies scoring a quick moral victory by erasing accounts and websites a few days early and citing the protests as the reason. Either way, the technology world is set for a clean slate when Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20, 2021.
A Political Reset in the Technology World
With the attack on the Capitol, coupled with Trump's end of term rapidly approaching, businesses are joining the bandwagon on removing their support for Trump. Microsoft is now the latest company to make its stand by removing its funding; we'll have to wait and see when they're ready to come back.
That's not to say that social media websites haven't been on the receiving end of the government's ire. The Trump administration worked hard to ban TikTok despite nothing coming to light.
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