11 Of The 12 Senators Set To Question YouTube Executive Have Accepted Donations From PAC Of Its Parent Company

YouTube’s parent company, Alphabet, has donated $344,500 to the campaigns and political action committees of the senators set to question one of its executives Tuesday, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. 

The hearing is the next in a series that the Senate’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security has held in recent months with Big Tech companies. The senators plan to question three public policy executives from Snap Inc., TikTok and YouTube, owned by Alphabet. The hearing will focus on how their apps have affected young children and teens. Snap Inc. and ByteDance, which owns TikTok, do not have corporate PACs.   

Other than subcommittee chair Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), every member of the 12-person subcommittee has accepted contributions from Alphabet’s political-action committee, Google LLC NetPac, over the last 15 years. Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) have more recently said that they would not accept corporate PAC donations.

Last month, ahead of the subcommittee’s hearing with Facebook’s global head of safety, Forbes reported that this same group of senators had accepted $190,000 from the social media company’s PAC. 

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) accepted the most from Alphabet’s PAC. His campaign committee and leadership PAC has received $59,000 since 2008, including a $5,000 contribution in September. In second place, Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) received $56,000.

Here are the rest of the subcommittee members, and how much they’ve received: 

• Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), $43,500
• Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), $38,000
• Ed Markey (D-Mass.), $31,500
• Mike Lee (R-Utah), $16,000
• Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), $15,000
• Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), $14,000
• Todd Young (R-Ind.), $12,000
• Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), $9,500