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.
The committee members claimed the companies “do not enforce their policies consistently.”
They made it clear the CEOs should testify about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
The portion of the act protects tech companies from being held responsible for what others say and do.
“The Presidential election will be held in 14 days, and millions of Americans have already voted,” the letter reads.
It continues, “Between the unregulated power of these companies and the concern of misinformation this close to a Presidential election, we cannot let these companies be unchecked arbiters of truth when their actions suggest their decisions are based on political motives.”
