The Republicans Sue Big Tech Executives Over Content Moderation
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Wednesday subpoenaed the CEOs of major tech companies to obtain documents related to their content moderation policies, including tapes of communications with the White House on free speech issues, the GOP’s latest move proving that the companies colluded with the Biden administration to stifle free speech.
This happened after the new owner of Twitter Inc. Elon Musk forced journalists to view Twitter messages in so-called “Twitter files”. The files show that government agencies have asked Twitter to moderate their platform as they see fit, but whether this constitutes censorship is a moot point. Notably, Twitter was not called to a meeting with the committee.
The panel will ask Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Andy Jassi, Satya Nadella and Tim Cook how their companies worked with the federal government to remove certain posts, possibly related to divisive issues.
“To develop effective legislation, such as the possible enactment of new statutory limits on the Executive Branch’s ability to work with Big Tech to restrict the circulation of content and deplatform users, the Committee on the Judiciary must first understand how and to what extent the Executive Branch coerced and colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor speech,” Jordan wrote to the five CEOs.
Jordan currently chairs the Judiciary Committee, as well as the federal government’s House Select Subcommittee on Weapons Matters, both of which are interested in allegations from federal agencies trying to get tech companies to censor certain opinions.