Big Tech Goes Politically Schizo

Ever since his acquisition of X, formerly known as Twitter, Elon Musk has taken a clear political side towards the right in workplace equality. The purpose behind this was to break the prevailing fact that Silicon Valley, the tech hub in the U.S., is a strong hold for wealthy liberals indebted to Democrats.

Elon Musk, whose political leanings were previously ambiguous, has now clearly aligned with the hard right. He uses his social media platform to promote issues commonly highlighted by conservative Fox News and far-right movements in Western countries.

In a recent instance, Elon Musk confirmed a conspiracy theory commonly found in far-right circles, suggesting that President Joe Biden is allowing immigration to secure votes, which he argues could lead to a situation worse than 9/11.

Aside from his social media posts, there are questions about whether the second-richest person in the world will use his influence and wealth to back former President Donald Trump’s bid to return to the White House.

Speculation on this issue has been heightened by a report in The New York Times revealing that the two individuals assembled with other Republican donors in Florida last week.

In parallel, Democratic President Joe Biden is far ahead of Trump in raising funds for his campaign, although the latter is going unchallenged for the Republican nomination for president of the United States. Musk could cover the financial gap on his own.

However, X’s owner wrote on his platform X, ” “Just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President”.

Due to the complexity of campaign financing in the U.S., some of Biden’s supporters are worried about Musk changing his opinion, and donate to politcal committees that back Trump, or use other means to support the Republican Party.

Silicon Valley’s Shift Towards Conservatism: Tech Leaders’ Support

In recent years, Silicon Valley has witnessed a shift towards conservatism, with figures like Elon Musk finding support.

Prominent business leaders are aligning with conservative causes, including cryptocurrencies, opposing California’s traditional agenda without direct support for Trump.

Marc Andreessen, once seen as a left-leaning tech luminary, now opposes left-wing priorities like workplace equality. He released a 5,200-word statement criticizing government concepts and regulations.

Like many of his right-leaning investor colleagues, Andreessen invests heavily in cryptocurrencies. Last year, the company launched a fund dedicated to campaigning against Democratic and Republican legislators seeking greater control over this nascent sector.

For her part, Technology analyst Carolina Milanesi believes that the emerging frankness is not so much about following Musk’s lead as it is about the old guard’s concern about the erosion of the status quo in workplace equality.

She added that discussions about wokeness, whether concerning diversity, equality, inclusion, or sustainability, are fundamentally challenging the existing status quo.

Hence, the discontentment has promptly led to the launch of a successful podcast titled “All-In”, in which four tech dignitaries, some of Musk’s friends, talk about the world and the latest technical developments.

The podcast’s hosts include David Sacks, a member of the PayPal mafia, a group that includes Musk. They worked at the startup in the late 1990s and have since become representatives of the small but growing right-leaning faction in Silicon Valley.

Another PayPal veteran is investor Peter Thiel, a German-born archconservative who aligned himself with Trump upon his entry to the White House.

Following the 2021 assault on the US Capitol, Thiel announced his withdrawal from politics and has since become a sort of philosopher-king of Silicon Valley’s right-wing, maintaining a detached stance.

Conservative Influence Challenges Tech Diversity Efforts and Raises AI Concerns.

The influence of this new conservative guard is becoming evident as tech companies focused on diversity face criticism. They are accused of San Francisco’s drug and crime problems and of creating overly “woke” generative AI.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai faced backlash last month when Google’s new Gemini AI app produced images of ethnically diverse World War II Nazi troops and other historically inaccurate content. This incident led to a drop in Google’s share price.

David Sacks criticized Google’s AI team on the All-In podcast, accusing them of injecting their liberal biases into their work. In response, Pichai described the AI mishap as “completely unacceptable,” and Sergey Brin admitted that they had “definitely messed up” by generating “far-left” imagery.

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