Microsoft halts all political donations for 2022 US races

San Francisco: Microsoft has announced to suspend all donations for the upcoming 2022 election cycle to all members of Congress, state officials and organisations who voted to object to the certification of electors in the 2020 election or supported attempts to overturn the election.

Last month, in the aftermath of the effort to overturn the Presidential election on January 6, the company temporarily halted political contributions from its employee-funded Political Action Committee (PAC).

"Since that time, we have assessed these issues and over the past two weeks have held six listening sessions with interested employees to have a dialogue and listen," said Fred Humphries, Corporate Vice President of US Government Affairs.

Microsoft also announced to create a new Democracy Forward Initiative to support organisations that promote public transparency, campaign finance reform, and voting rights.?

"We will promote and join a conversation with other businesses and organisations that want to strengthen democracy," the company said in a statement on Friday.

"Recent events have raised issues of importance to PACs across the business community and companies across the nation, and we believe there is an opportunity to learn and work together," it added.

The tech giant also renamed the PAC as the Microsoft Corporation Stakeholders Voluntary PAC (MSVPAC).