Thanks to weak campaign finance laws, the wealthiest Americans and corporations possess immense power to shape our elections through the influence of big tech money in politics. Recently, more and more political spending has been fueled by tech wealth as questions of how to regulate Silicon Valley have risen on policymakers’ agendas. Such massive spending could help drive corporate profits at the expense of the public interest. Additionally, some prominent tech figures have advanced radical, sometimes antidemocratic, views through their big spending. By passing the Freedom to Vote Act, Congress can strengthen the rules to help ensure that normal Americans, not just the highest bidders, are fairly represented in our policymaking process.

Recent events have highlighted the outsize influence of big tech money in politics.

In just a few years, the cryptocurrency industry has gone from a non-spender to the biggest corporate spender in our elections, accounting for almost half of all known corporate contributions this year. The crypto firm Coinbase has donated over $90 million so far this cycle, earning it the title of second biggest donor in the country. The industry’s spending has boosted candidates from both parties, incentivizing candidates to compete for its support through policy commitments. The effects of big tech money in politics are not hard to find. They include a GOP platform that takes a strong anti-regulatory stance on crypto and a “Crypto for Harris” event featuring Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Former President Trump’s closest tie to Silicon Valley is on the ballot with him. His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, is a former venture capitalist whose political reinvention and rise to power was enabled by millions in spending by his mentor, billionaire PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel. A subset of Silicon Valley elites who have drifted toward the Trump camp, thanks in part to deregulatory policy preferences, cheered his selection.

Much of the recent news coverage of big tech money in politics has focused on Elon Musk, currently the richest person in the world, who endorsed Trump and has aligned himself with a pro-Trump super PAC. But Musk is just one of many tech-world donors fueling the right. He joins the ranks of Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, and the Winklevoss twins — two cryptocurrency entrepreneurs who attempted to donate more than the legal maximum to various pro-Trump and GOP entities.

Read the full article about big tech money in politics by Grady Yuthok Short at Brennan Center for Justice.