The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday subpoenaed the chief executives of five major tech companies seeking records and information on their content moderation practices.
Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio sent the subpoenas to the CEOs of Google-parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook-parent Meta and Microsoft requesting documents and communications “referring or relating to the moderation, deletion, suppression, restriction or reduced circulation of content.”
The subpoenas also demanded documents specifying the employees responsible for developing or executing content policies and any communications with people outside of the executive branch regarding policies or decisions on content moderation.
In letters accompanying the subpoenas, Jordan said the requested documents would be used as part of the committee’s investigation into alleged collusion with the executive branch to suppress conservative voices online.
Jordan also praised Twitter over an effort dubbed the “Twitter Files” by its CEO Elon Musk that released internal documents showing how the company handled a news article about Hunter Biden in 2020. He said Congress must now “gauge the extent to which” similar actions took place at the five companies subpoenaed.
The letters to tech CEOs say the documents should be submitted to the committee by March 23.
A Microsoft spokesperson said the company was engaging with the committee regarding its request.
“We have started producing documents, are engaged with the Committee, and committed to working in good faith.”
NBC News has reached out to the other four companies for comment.
The subpoenas come as House Republicans move forward with investigations both directly and indirectly into the Biden administration.
Earlier this month, Jordan sent subpoenas to Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona asking for information linked to school board meetings around the country.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
