Employees of some of the biggest tech companies in the world are overwhelmingly financially backing Democratic candidate Joe Biden over President Donald Trump in the upcoming US election.
According to analysis by Wired, employees at six big tech firms in Silicon Valley – Alphabet (parent company of Google), Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Oracle – have donated nearly 20 times more to Biden than they have to Trump since the beginning of 2019.
Workers at the tech giants have contributed more than $6.7 million ($US4,787,752) to the Biden campaign, compared with just $336,000 ($US239,527) to Trump’s re-election campaign.
The Federal Election Commission releases data on individuals who have contributed more than $US200 to a political entity, along with information on their employer or employee, which is the data the Wired report is based on.
According to the study, employees at Alphabet are the biggest supporters of Biden, donating more than a third of the total funds from the tech companies to Biden – just under $US1.8 million.
While Microsoft employees funded the Trump campaign more than workers at the other tech firms with $US75,428, this only amounted to 8 per cent of the total donations from this group.
Microsoft employees have contributed just under $US1 million to the Biden campaign.
Workers at Oracle were more likely to give cash to Trump, with about 20 percent of donations over $US200 from employees at the software firm going towards the US president, amounting to just over $US50,000.
Oracle founder Larry Ellison is a long-time backer of Trump, and the company was recently named as Chinese social media company TikTok’s “trusted tech partner” in the US. Oracle will likely serve as a cloud host partner for TikTik’s operations in the US.
Facebook workers were in near one-sided support of Biden, contributing a total of $US560,000 to Biden and just over $7,000 to Trump.
Silicon Valley workers seem to be particularly politically motivated, with an analysis from Open Secrets finding that employees at Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Apple account for five of the largest seven donors to Biden.
The campaign finance watchdog also found that donations by Alphabet employees outweigh those from any other company overall.
Overall, donations from the companies are up for both candidates compared to the 2016 campaign.
Money going towards Biden is nearly twice as much as went towards nominee Hillary Clinton in the last campaign over the same period, while Trump has raised more than four times from the same cohort of employees.
The election will likely have significant ramifications for big tech, with Trump targeting a number of the social media giants and ongoing plans to break up the large players.
Trump’s ongoing feuds with China and potential bans on trading could also impact tech firms and the potential to secure investment.
In May, Trump signed an executive order that could potentially lead to social media companies losing their long-hold legal protections, after he was fact-checked on Twitter for a post regarding mail-in ballots.
Trump has also targeted Apple over its decision to not provide access to a mass shooter’s iPhone at the start of this year.
Tech workers have long-proven themselves to be politically active, mostly against some of Trump’s more abhorrent policies.
Google employees have staged protests over Trump’s immigration ban, while Microsoft workers have called for the company to stop cooperating with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In June, Facebook staff revolted over the company’s decision to allow some of Trump’s most controversial posts to remain on the platform, with a virtual walkout and several employees quitting the company.
