By Lorenzo Billie In today’s breaking BNN News, Jim Jordan, a House Judiciary Chairman, issued subpoenas to the CEOs of five large companies in the US, seeking information on the rules for content moderation on their websites. The letters are sent to Alphabet Inc.’s CEO, Sundar Pichai; Meta Platforms Inc.’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg; Apple Inc. CEO, Tim Cook; Microsoft Corp. CEO, Satya Nadella; and Amazon.com Inc. CEO, Andy Jassy.
The initiative is part of the House Republicans’ plan to investigate communications between social media companies, big tech, and the Biden administration. Its main aim is to check whether the tech companies have engaged in the censorship of legitimate views on issues like the COVID-19 policy, which runs counter to the policy of the White House.
Tech companies respond to the House panel’s requests
According to the latest communiqué, some of the tech companies are on the job with the Judiciary Panel. Microsoft’s spokeswoman, Kate Frischmann, said the company has already started sharing the documents with the judiciary committee and is working in good faith. Andy Stone, a spokeswoman for Meta, said the company has already begun producing the documents as requested by the committee and will continue to cooperate in this regard.
Sets a date of March 23 to produce documents
An Ohio Republican, Jim Jordan, did not seek information about content moderation from Elon Musk-owned Twitter Inc. The House panel is more friendly with the microblogging platform after the change of ownership in 2022. Jim Jordan heads both the newly formed House Select Subcommittee (HSS) on weaponizing the federal government and the Judiciary Panel. He set March 23 as the deadline for the tech companies to submit the documents before the House panel.
The major technology companies are required to show any communication between the US Government’s executive branch and them regarding content deletion, moderation, reduced distribution, or suppression. Jordan first sought these documents in 2022, before Republicans gained a majority. After assuming the charge as Chairman and gaining the power to issue subpoenas, Jordan stepped up the requests for these documents.
Republicans claim tech companies limit the visibility of conservative voices
Republicans in the United States have accused tech companies of reducing the visibility of conservative voices for several years in a row. The tech companies prevented Republicans from reaching their voters. They also limited the sharing of Republican views on their platforms. On the other hand, Democrats supported the tech companies, saying the content was filtered to prevent the spread of false information on topics like coronavirus vaccines.
According to the latest news in the US news websites, the committee seeks to identify whether the executive branch of the government colluded with or was coerced by tech companies or other intermediaries into censoring information or speech. Jordan also sought the details of individuals at tech companies engaged in framing content moderation rules and people engaged in communicating with the Executive Branch.
Mr. Jordan mentioned that Twitter, which is led by Musk, is working with journalists to distribute files or internal documents. The secret documents shared from Twitter reveal information about the platform’s decision to temporarily prevent sharing of articles about Hunter Biden, the son of Vice President Biden, posted in the US news site just before the 2020 election. According to Jordan, tech companies should take Twitter as an example for sharing secret files.
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