GOP Lawmakers Call on Dems to Hold a Hearing With Big Tech CEOs About Censorship

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are imploring Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) to invite big tech CEOs to testify about issues including censorship and a law affording them liability protection.

“As you know, we have serious concerns regarding the recent actions taken by these companies to censor speech on their platforms, especially so close to a major presidential election,” Republicans wrote in a letter they penned to Pallone.

They added, “In the event these companies refuse an invitation to testify we request the Committee expeditiously hold a business meeting to authorize subpoenas to the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google to compel their testimony before the Energy and Commerce Committee.”

The lawmakers argued it is a “bigger priority” for social media to companies to block a story published by the New York Post about Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, rather than addressing “criminal activity” on their platforms.

Republicans noted Facebook slowed the spread of the article and requested the story be fact-checked by third-party reviewers.

Just hours after the New York Post published the report, Twitter users who attempted to share the story were met with an error message, “We can’t complete this request because this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful.”

“This recent censorship controversy is just one more in a litany of instances in which these companies have shown utter disregard for being democratic public squares and seek to suppress speech that does not advance their particular agenda,” they wrote.