The Fair Election Fund (FEF) on Thursday launched a digital ad campaign to boost its report about how Microsoft has stifled free speech and is influencing of elections across the country.
“Microsoft has a history of censoring conservatives, aligning with foreign adversaries, and risking our national security, and their actions demand immediate scrutiny. This ad campaign is a wake-up call to D.C. to hold bad actors accountable and prevent future partisan abuses of the electoral process,” FEF said in a statement.
FEF launched a five-figure digital ad campaign to shine a spotlight on how Microsoft’s pattern of political bias and national security vulnerabilities and urges lawmakers as well as regulators to investigate the company’s practices.
The organizaiton’s report was prompted by FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson’s efforts to combat censorship; Ferguson sent a letter to Microsoft and other big tech companies to highlight how the largest tech companies control the flow of free speech and elections.
According to FEF, Microsoft founder Bill Gates donated $50 million to elect Kamala Harris in 2024, donating to “dark money” group Future Forward USA Action. Microsoft President Brad Smith and his wife Kathy hosted a fundraiser for the Biden Victory Fund.
When most other prominent tech CEOs such as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, X owner Elon Musk, and others attended President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Smith told a European journalist he had “better places to be,” by which he meant the globalist World Economic Forum in Davos.
Ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Microsoft warned of “polarizing times” and recommitted itself to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as an increasing number of companies have moved away from the controversial corporate policies.
FEF noted that Microsoft stopped working with a law firm that pledged pro bono support to the Trump administration and instead hired a firm that is actively fighting the Trump administration.
LinkedIn cofounder and Microsoft board member Reid Hoffman, a known funder of leftist projects, faced calls to resign after wishing Trump would become an “actual martyr” just before the July assassination attempt.
During the 2022 midterm elections, Microsoft barred employees from donating to 147 Republicans, which included Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
“While only Republicans were blocked from receiving campaign contributions in 2022, Democrats who had previously objected to the certification of electors in 2000, 2004, or 2016 faced no such ban. In fact, Microsoft’s PAC donated a total of $24,000 in the 2018 and 2020 election cycles to some of the House members who objected to the 2016 election certification after President Trump’s victory,” the FEF stated.
Microsoft opposed Georgia’s 2021 move to secure voting, claiming it limited voting access, even though 2022 elections experienced significant turnout during the 2022 elections.
Microsoft partnered with blacklist organization Newsguard and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), which have targeted center-right and outlets disfavored by the establishment
FEF cited LinkedIn’s transparency reports, which has shown a spike in “misinformation removals” related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Microsoft’s deep relationship with China, which includes source code sharing and the use of Chinese engineers for federal contracts, poses national security risks that could compromise election infrastructure.
FEF stated, “The Fair Election Fund demands that Microsoft immediately implement transparency, independent oversight, robust privacy protections, and ideological neutrality to reverse its corrosive influence on democracy and align with the principles of free and fair elections.”
