Last Updated on February 5, 2021
Texas Republicans have financed Big Tech companies like Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars using the Texas Enterprise Fund.
The report from the Texas-based Current Revolt exposes the Texas Enterprise Fund, showing how Republicans in the Texas Legislature have backed the diversion of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars directly into the pockets of the Big Tech companies that engage in the censorship of their very own constituents.
The aim of the TEF, as disclosed on the Texas government website, is to award “deal closing” grants to companies in order to persuade them into choosing Texas as the location for their new site, whatever that may be. “The fund serves as a financial incentive for those companies whose projects would contribute significant capital investment and new employment opportunities to the state’s economy,” the website states.
However, the TEF, supported by a large list of Texas Republicans, gives money to Big Tech corporations, who regularly engage in the censorship and attempted cancellation of conservatives.
Facebook, who regularly bans conservatives from their platform and recently permanently banned President Donald Trump, were awarded $1.4 million.
Apple, who recently kicked conservative social media platform Parler off their App Store, received $46 million.
Uber, whose employees gave 97% of their political donations to Democrats, and who permanently banned former Republican Congressional candidate Laura Loomer from their service, were awarded $24 million.
Writing for Current Revolt, Tommy Oliver argued that if the TEF program was to exist, “why are we funding companies that not only hate conservatives, but are actively working to harm them?” It isn’t even clear whether the TEF actually helps the Texas economy either. This week, one group, the Better Cities Project, slammed the TEF for imposing costs on cities “in the form of reduced revenues and increased liabilities.”
John C Mozena, the president of the Center for Economic Accountability, also claimed that the grants “make local economies less free, less fair, less inclusive, less resilient, less entrepreneurial, less innovative and more biased in favor of large incumbent businesses.”
One 2019 report from the University of Austin even found that a number of companies went ahead and amended their TEF agreements, “usually committing to fewer jobs created, or their hiring schedule, or how headcount should be computed,” resulting in a far lower benefit than initially calculated.
“What we were sold is that economic growth and prosperity will foster conservative values and unity,” Oliver concludes at Current Revolt. “It was never explained how this would work, because it was a lie. We know that now.”
