When running for office, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) constantly opposed technology giants like Facebook for allegedly censoring and silencing pro-Trump Republicans, and vowed to fight what she called the “cartel of Silicon Valley “after being elected to Congress.
During his first two months on Capitol Hill, Greene has swept away anti-technology rhetoric. But shortly after his swearing-in, he quietly moved to unload significant shares on the same companies he vehemently denounced, which offset a healthy sum in the process.
According to her latest financial disclosure form, released Feb. 19, Greene and her husband sold shares worth $ 49,000 to $ 210,000 to Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon on Jan. 20.
It’s not clear exactly how much Greene and her husband, Perry, earned from each company’s shares, as the congressional forms only list broad areas of value, but it may have been up to $ 65,000 each for the four. technology actions. Some shares were jointly owned by the couple and others were owned exclusively by her husband.
Greene’s only other public financial disclosure form, filed in May 2020 when she was a candidate, lists joint or marital ownership of up to $ 65,000 in Apple shares, $ 30,000 in Facebook shares, $ 30,000 in shares of ‘Amazon and $ 15,000 in Google shares. The couple sold these stakes in January with profits (the official form collects capital gains in excess of $ 200), but the exact figure is unknown.
In light of the growing push by advocates of good governments for lawmakers to sell their stakes in individual actions to avoid conflicts of interest, the sale of Greene may be accepted. But its financial disclosure report shows that it continues to invest in several other companies, from Fortune 500 giants like Goldman Sachs and Lockheed Martin to the sports gaming platform DraftKings and the active clothing brand Lululemon.
There is also the simple irony in which Greene personally invested and then took advantage of the technology companies he had excoriated for months as totalitarian tools of evil and social control. A Greene spokesman did not respond to requests for comment on his sale of shares and why he invested in the companies to begin with.
Like many Trump Republicans, Greene has oriented his policy around “culture cancellation” and Big Tech’s alleged censorship of those who promote pro-Trump opinions. On his social media platforms, where he has hundreds of thousands of followers, Greene posts a fresh, burning indignation about them almost daily.
Facebook, shares of which Greene and her husband sold for a net profit of up to $ 65,000 on Jan. 20, have been a constant target for her as a candidate and as a member of Congress. Last September, the platform withdrew a message from Greene in which he posed with a gun next to images of the progressive “Squad,” because it incited violence. The Republican Party candidate claimed she was being canceled and now wears a face mask in Congress with the message “CENSORED.”
At various times in 2020, Greene called Facebook racist for promoting a message of support for black-owned businesses during the holiday season and labeled him an anti-Semite to censor provocative far-right Islamophobic Laura Loomer. He also accused Facebook of allowing “ANTIFA” to carry out terrorist attacks and accused the social media platform of “having canceled our children”.
In October, when a Facebook spokesman tweeted that would not link to a New York Post story about Hunter Biden, the Georgia Republican tweeted indignantly that “the Silicon Valley cartel has taken the first amendment and he broke it to pieces. “
“When I get to Congress,” Greene declared, “Big Tech will be responsible!”
Ironically, in June 2020, the Facebook investor publicly asked many thousands of followers to use a competitor. “For those who are tired of being censored by Facebook,” he wrote, “I encourage you to open a Parler account today.”
Greene has been less critical of the other tech companies it once had, but its pros against the “Silicon Valley Cartel” leave little room for nuance, especially given the dominance of the Google, Amazon and Apple industry.
Greene’s technology stock sales could be interpreted as a sign that he wanted to break any financial ties with companies he had so stridently opposed. A Greene spokeswoman did not answer questions about why she and her husband sold the shares when they did.
Just two weeks after the sale of shares, however, Greene called on like-minded conservatives to take advantage of the free market system to develop alternatives to the technology companies he had previously been funding.
“Conservatives must unite to invest, develop and compete in Big Tech to protect our conservative values and discourses from the endless screams of the thinking police. This would give people a chance to choose the online ‘community’ in which they invest, “Greene tweeted on Feb. 7.
“The Silicon Valley cartel that controls social media, freedom of speech and even the goal of fighting growing competition, like Parler, must be stopped. The way to stop it is in the free market. , although we can still … ”