| Welcome to The Technology 202! Today we're thinking of the brave reporters, photographers and videographers who put themselves at risk to tell the story of last Jan. 6.
Below: How social media platforms are preparing for the anniversary of the insurrection, and lawmakers sound off on DuckDuckGo's latest critique of Google. First: | Tech giants swore off donations to those who denied Biden's win. Their cash is still likely getting through. |  Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) speak after Republicans objected to certifying the electoral college votes from Arizona during a joint session of the House and Senate on Jan 6, 2021. (Andrew Harnik/AP) | | | In the aftermath of the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol last Jan. 6, a slew of tech and telecom companies pledged to halt donations to Republican members of Congress who voted against certifying President Biden's electoral win — the event that precipitated the violence that day. A year later, major companies in the sector have largely stuck by the letter of their word, not giving funds altogether or to those specific candidates for much of the 2022 election cycle. But critics on the left say many of these organizations violated the spirit of the commitments by donating to GOP national organizations, which made no such assurances about who will or won't receive the funds. This means their money could still end up supporting the candidates they rebuffed. "The fact that Big Tech executives have gone back on their word shouldn't surprise anyone paying attention," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a top lawmaker on tech issues. "They fail day in and day out to abide by their own terms of service, which are often little more than lawyer-speak for the ways in which they'll fail consumers." It's one of the many issues for which tech companies are still answering to policymakers about their actions leading up to and in the wake of the insurrection at the Capitol. After Jan. 6, social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Parler faced the brunt of the backlash, with Democrats accusing them of failing to squelch inciting rhetoric while Republicans blast the firms that booted off former president Donald Trump. | | But the controversy over the donations also marks a pain point with a longer history for tech leaders, some of whom decided long before Jan. 6 that having skin in the game monetarily may not be worth the political headaches it can cause in an increasingly polarized United States. It also shows that while some Republican tech critics are urging their colleagues to stop taking money from Silicon Valley as a sign of protest, that movement has been slow to gain steam. Now, companies are again facing pressure from liberal watchdogs to honor or expand their donation halts, signaling that scrutiny is likely to live on beyond the anniversary. Here's a breakdown of how much companies have stuck to their commitments, according to federal disclosure filings reviewed by The Technology 202, confirming past reporting: Google: The tech giant said last January that its NetPAC "will not be making any contributions this cycle to any member of Congress who voted against certification of the election results," which it has honored. It donated $15,000 to both the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which funds GOP candidates across the board. Spokesperson José Castañeda said Google has "long contributed on a bipartisan basis to candidates and committees" that the company backs and that they "stand by" their prior commitment not to donate to objectors this cycle. (While most Senate Republicans did not object to Biden's certification last year, a majority of House Republicans did. The companies listed here largely donated equal amounts to the NRSC and NRCC as they did to their Democratic counterparts, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.) Oracle: The cloud-computing titan said its PAC would "pause contributions to anyone who voted against certifying the November 2020 election results," which it has stuck to. It has made three donations totaling $11,250 to both the NRSC and the NRCC. AT&T: The telecom giant said it "decided to suspend" contributions to objectors, and it has technically honored the pledge. But it did donate $5,000 to the House Conservatives Fund, a leadership PAC chaired by Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who objected to the certification. It has also contributed $15,000 a piece to the NRSC and NRCC since Jan. 6. Verizon: Like AT&T and Google, the wireless carrier pledged to halt contributions to objectors and has not made any since, but it did contribute $15,000 apiece to the NRCC and NRSC. | | T-Mobile: The company offered a squishier commitment at the time, saying it planned to "reevaluate our PAC giving," without elaborating. The company in June donated $1,000 to Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), who voted against Biden's certification, and has also given $15,000 to both the NRSC and the NRCC. Comcast: The company said it would "suspend all of our political contributions to those elected officials who voted against certification of the electoral college votes," and it has. It joined the club of tech and telecom companies donating $15,000 to both the NRSC and NRCC. Spokespeople for Oracle, AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and T-Mobile did not return requests for comment on the donations. Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, eBay, Airbnb and Lyft: All six tech companies announced they would suspend donations to lawmakers who objected to the certification, and all did. But all six also opted against donating to national committees, including the NRSC and the NRCC. Few companies, however, have explicitly said whether they plan to swear off donations for certification objectors for good, leaving open the possibility they quietly resume in the future. | | |  | Our top tabs | | Twitter set up a team to monitor its site for Jan. 6 anniversary |  Twitter didn't say how many people would be working on the team. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg) | | | The "cross-functional working group" will look for tweets and accounts inciting violence on the first anniversary of the Capitol riot, Reuters's Sheila Dang reports. The company didn't say how many people are working on the team. Facebook parent Meta is "continuing to actively monitor threats on our platform and will respond accordingly," the company told Reuters. YouTube said the company continues to look for election misinformation on its platform. | Lawmakers say Google rival's critique of the search giant shows the need for legislation |  DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg blasted Google's practices this week. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) | | | Lawmakers seized on search engine DuckDuckGo's allegations detailed in Wednesday's Technology 202 that Google has been subtly manipulating users and abusing its browser extensions to stifle competitors. DuckDuckGo's claims show that "the impacts of dark patterns can be enormous — particularly when used by a globally dominant incumbent — with hundreds of thousands of users potentially impacted in this instance alone," said Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), who has introduced a bill to crack down on so-called dark patterns. Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.), who is leading legislation to ban tech giants from favoring their products over their rivals', said DuckDuckGo's allegations were "more evidence that we need clear rules of the road to end monopolistic practices online." Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Tex.), who co-sponsored that bill and co-chairs the Republican-led Freedom from Big Tech Caucus, said it was the latest instance of Google trying to "shut out competition." In response to DuckDuckGo's remarks, Google spokeswoman Julie Tarallo McAlister said that users on Chrome "can directly change their default search settings at any time," but they often complain when extensions change those settings without their knowledge. | Elizabeth Warren asked Google to stop going after Jonathan Kanter |  Jonathan Kanter worked for adversaries of the tech giant before being nominated by President Biden for a Justice Department post. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) | | | Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) asked Google CEO Sundar Pichai to stop attempting to "bully" Kanter, the Justice Department's top antitrust official, into being recused from issues involving the tech giant, CNBC's Lauren Feiner reports. It comes five months after the lawmakers and other Democrats told Amazon and Facebook to stop trying to force FTC Chair Lina Khan into recusing herself from issues involving their companies. Jonathan Kanter is an ally of Warren and Jayapal, who praised his nomination last year. Kanter reportedly advised Warren when she ran for president in 2020. When CNBC asked Google for comment on the letter, the company pointed the outlet to a prior statement it had made when it asked for Kanter to be recused. The statement argued that "Kanter's past statements and work representing competitors who have advocated for the cases brought by the Department raise serious concerns about his ability to be impartial." | | |  | Rant and rave | | | Instagram has begun testing a long-awaited chronological feed, according to Instagram head Adam Mosseri. Offline Ventures's Dave Morin: | | Economist Robert Marchini: | | Kelly Rippin, an anchor at Cincinnati television station WLWT: | | TechCrunch's Taylor Hatmaker: | | |  | Inside the industry | | | |  | Hill happenings | | | |  | Workforce report | | | |  | Competition watch | | | |  | Trending | | | |  | Mentions | | - John Perrino has joined the Stanford Internet Observatory. He previously worked as a director of the Glen Echo Group.
- Dan DeLaurentis, the director of the Purdue Institute for Global Security and Defense Innovation, is joining the Center for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue as senior research fellow. Kevin Cirilli, Bloomberg's former chief Washington correspondent, is joining the think tank as senior media fellow and Entropy Economics president Bret Swanson is joining the think tank as senior visiting fellow.
| | |  | Daybook | | - Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger speaks at an Atlantic Council event on Monday at 10 a.m.
- FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks discusses infrastructure funding at an Information Technology Industry Council and Bridge for Innovation event on Tuesday at 1 p.m.
- Damian Collins, who chairs the U.K. Parliament's Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill, discusses disinformation at a Washington Post Live event with former Rep. Will Hurd, a Republican who represented Texas, on Tuesday at 11 a.m.
| | |  | Before you log off | | | That's all for today — thank you so much for joining us! Make sure to tell others to subscribe to The Technology 202 here. Get in touch with tips, feedback or greetings on Twitter or email. | |
