WASHINGTON: Tech giants earned billions through contracts with the US military and other government agencies during the so-called.fight against terror“, according to a report released before the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
NS”big tech The “Sales War” report, published on Thursday by three US campaign groups, documents the explosion of government contracts with heroineFacebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter since 2004.
The report said the tech companies’ contracts were “primarily with central agencies for the War on Terrorism.”
“From 2004 to the present day, Big Tech corporations have seen a huge increase in federal demand for their services, particularly from the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security,” it said.
The demand for cloud computing and GPS software by the US military and intelligence agencies has increased since 2001 as the defense industry has become increasingly digital.
A collaboration between the Action Center on Race and the Economy and social justice groups LittleSis and MPower Change, the report says the Defense Department alone has spent $43.8 billion on Big Tech contracts since 2004.
It said that four of the five top spending agencies on Big Tech contracts “were central to foreign policy or were established as a direct result of the global war on terrorism”.
“Amazon and Microsoft notably outperformed in recent years, with Amazon signing nearly five times and Microsoft signing eight times as many federal contracts and sub-contracts in 2019 compared to 2015,” the report said. did.”
Microsoft has benefited from a jump in defense contracts during the Trump administration, with a six-fold increase in the number of deals signed between 2016 and 2018, the report said.
Contracts with “traditional” military and defense contractors such as aerospace companies Raytheon and Northrop Grumman have shrunk in recent years.
AFP has reached out to the five big tech companies for comment, but has yet to receive a response.
The report took its data from Tech Inquiry, an online tool that allows users to trace US government contracts.
The report states that the tool only includes contracts for which information is publicly available, so the figures in the report are “very underrepresented”.
Its authors meanwhile criticized a “revolving door” incident between Big Tech and US security agencies, in which former senior government officials continued to play prominent roles in technology companies.
For example, the report includes former State Department official Jared Cohen, now at Google, as well as Steve Pandelides of Amazon – formerly of the FBI – and Joseph D. Rozek of Microsoft, who helped found the Department of Homeland Security. of, cited as an example. .
NS”big tech The “Sales War” report, published on Thursday by three US campaign groups, documents the explosion of government contracts with heroineFacebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter since 2004.
The report said the tech companies’ contracts were “primarily with central agencies for the War on Terrorism.”
“From 2004 to the present day, Big Tech corporations have seen a huge increase in federal demand for their services, particularly from the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security,” it said.
The demand for cloud computing and GPS software by the US military and intelligence agencies has increased since 2001 as the defense industry has become increasingly digital.
A collaboration between the Action Center on Race and the Economy and social justice groups LittleSis and MPower Change, the report says the Defense Department alone has spent $43.8 billion on Big Tech contracts since 2004.
It said that four of the five top spending agencies on Big Tech contracts “were central to foreign policy or were established as a direct result of the global war on terrorism”.
“Amazon and Microsoft notably outperformed in recent years, with Amazon signing nearly five times and Microsoft signing eight times as many federal contracts and sub-contracts in 2019 compared to 2015,” the report said. did.”
Microsoft has benefited from a jump in defense contracts during the Trump administration, with a six-fold increase in the number of deals signed between 2016 and 2018, the report said.
Contracts with “traditional” military and defense contractors such as aerospace companies Raytheon and Northrop Grumman have shrunk in recent years.
AFP has reached out to the five big tech companies for comment, but has yet to receive a response.
The report took its data from Tech Inquiry, an online tool that allows users to trace US government contracts.
The report states that the tool only includes contracts for which information is publicly available, so the figures in the report are “very underrepresented”.
Its authors meanwhile criticized a “revolving door” incident between Big Tech and US security agencies, in which former senior government officials continued to play prominent roles in technology companies.
For example, the report includes former State Department official Jared Cohen, now at Google, as well as Steve Pandelides of Amazon – formerly of the FBI – and Joseph D. Rozek of Microsoft, who helped found the Department of Homeland Security. of, cited as an example. .
.