Microsoft has announced that it will be suspending all political donations to Members of Congress, state officials, and organisations in the United States who had voted to object to the certification of electors in the 2020 US elections or had supported such objections for the upcoming 2022 election cycle.

“We will suspend contributions for the duration of the 2022 election cycle to all members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of electors. We will also suspend contributions for the same period for state officials and organisations who supported such objections or suggested the election should be overturned,” Microsoft said in its announcement.

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Tech giants including Microsoft, Facebook, AT&T, and Google had paused some political donations following the violent attack on the US Capitol on January 6, Axios had reported.

“Last month, in the aftermath of the effort to overturn the Presidential election, we halted political giving to consider the implications of the events. 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,” Microsoft said.

Microsoft’s political contributions through the PAC is funded by voluntary donations from more than 3,000 Microsoft employees, shareholders, and family members.

“We’ve heard from some members of the PAC community who do not want to contribute to political candidates but instead would like to donate to work that will address the issues and policies that are important to the preservation and promotion of democracy,” Microsoft said.

The tech giant will create a new Democracy Forward Initiative to address these points. The initiative will “support organisations that promote public transparency, campaign finance reform, and voting rights.”

“We will have more details to share in coming weeks on the creation of this fund and how employees can contribute to it,” Microsoft said.

The tech giant is also renaming its PAC, previously known as Microsoft Political Action Committee (MSPAC), to the Microsoft Corporation Stakeholders Voluntary PAC (MSVPAC).