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Why Facebook Co-Founder Dustin Moskovitz is donating $20 million to help Hillary Clinton

dustin moskovitz 20 million donation screen shot 2016 09 10 at 12 35 27 pm
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Facebook may not be trying to influence what decision you make at the polls come November, but that doesn’t mean its founders are staying as neutral. Far from it, in fact. On Friday, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz wrote a Medium blog post entitled “Compelled to Act,” in which he explained the impetus behind his family’s decision to donate $20 million to help Democrats in the 2016 election.

Noting that this is the first time that he and his wife Cari will be donating to a political campaign, Moskovitz noted, “This cycle is different.”

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“The polarization in America today has yielded a race that is about much more than policies and ideas,” he continued. “It has become a referendum on who we want to be — as individuals, as a nation and as a society.”

As such, the billionaire is doing his part to ensure that Donald Trump and his campaign “built on fear and hostility” do not make it to the White House. His $2o million donation will be split among a number of organizations: the Hillary Victory Fund, the DSCC, the DCCC, the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund, and For Our Future PAC are included. Of these, the LCV Victory Fund and For Our Future PAC will receive the largest contributions of $5 million each.

The decision to make this magnitude of a donation was not easy, the co-founder wrote, “particularly because we have reservations about anyone using large amounts of money to influence elections.” However, it seems as though desperate times call for desperate measures.

“We hope these efforts make it a little more likely that Secretary Clinton is able to pursue the agenda she’s outlined, and serve as a signal to the Republican Party that by running this kind of campaign  —  one built on fear and hostility  —  and supporting this kind of candidate, they compel people to act in response,” Moskovitz concluded. “We are not the only ones being activated so strongly during this election.”

Lulu Chang
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