Twitter, under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators, is contributing to Democratic and Republican campaign efforts after attorney general races across the country this fall.
The Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) said it received money from Twitter earlier this summer as part of the group’s fundraising campaign for the upcoming midterm elections.
“For verification, Twitter gave us $25,000 on 7/21/22 and are current DAGA partners,” DAGA Communications Director Geoff Burgan said in a statement. “This is their first contribution to us.”
Mr. Burgan declined to answer questions about how the money would be used and how the social media company would cooperate with DAGA.
Twitter also gave $25,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) in June 2022, according to People Information.
Twitter has been mum about the scope of its political spending for attorney general groups. The company did not respond to requests for comment, but previously told Popular Information that it was paying “membership fees” to both attorney general groups at the same time, and the money would not be used by candidates.
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The new spending represents a major shift for Twitter, which shuttered its political action committee in October 2020 ahead of the election. Twitter’s US Policy Communications Manager, Trenton Kennedy, told Business Insider that the decision was made because the social media company believed that political influence should be earned, not bought.
The social media platform’s donation to Republicans this summer raised eyebrows because of the dispute between the GOP and Twitter.
RAGA joined other Republican aggregators in August 2019 in a pledge to ban all ad spending on Twitter. Two months later, Twitter ended all political ads on its platform globally.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has also targeted Twitter for investigation. In June 2022, the Texas Republican said it was investigating the amount of fake accounts on the platform for possible violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Last year, Mr. Paxton issued a civil investigative demand involving Twitter’s censorship practices.
Twitter did not mention its spending on attorney general groups in its midterm election announcement last week. The company said it will implement a new policy for the next medium term, designed to limit the flow of information that Twitter believes is misleading or harmful.
Thirty states will elect attorneys general this year, with a handful of other states electing governors and state legislatures electing attorneys general, according to the National Association of Attorneys General. Republicans control 27 attorney general seats in 2022, while Democrats control 23 states plus the District of Columbia, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands.
