Incoming Judiciary Committee Leader Jim Jordan (GOP-OH) demanded documentation related to censoring tactics from major tech companies in letters.
Jordan sent the following email to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabeth CEO Sundar Pichai, and Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella:
“Big Tech is determined to punish conservatives and is more and more willing to compromise First Amendment values by agreeing with the Biden Admin.’s policies that stifle freedom of speech online. This strategy threatens key American values by allowing powerful government players to suppress political opponents and squelch opposing perspectives. According to publicly accessible information, your firms’ treatment of some speakers and content may be influenced by government mandates or guidance intended to stifle dissenting views. As a result, we write to inquire about the nature and degree of your companies’ involvement with the Biden Government.”
“Today, Big Tech plays a well-known role in molding national and global public debate.” Big Tech’s “heavy-handed suppression” has been used to “suppress prominent voices” and “stifle opinions that contrast with the mainstream progressive consensus” in some situations.
“Because of Big Tech’s broad reach, it has the potential to be a formidable and successful political arm of a “woke speech police.” Even though the actual degree of Big Tech’s involvement with the Biden Admin. is unclear, there are several examples and strong evidence of Big Tech suppression in response to executive branch instructions or pressure. These cases raise important questions about how and why tech firms censor, mute, or limit the impact of particular political speakers and speeches. Big Tech and Big Gov’t working together to advance censorship unquestionably hurts liberty and jeopardizes our nation’s First Amendment principles and protections.”
Confronting big tech was a central tenet of the House Republicans’ Dedication to American agenda, and Jordan, as the new leader of the Judiciary Committee, has the authority to subpoena executives from major tech companies about their censoring methods.
