House Judiciary Committee Republicans are demanding Twitter provide documents by March 18 explaining their decisions to moderate or remove content by conservative users and tweets last summer from former President Trump.
Ranking Committee Member U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, and Colorado U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, ranking member of the antitrust, commercial and administrative law subcommittee, are examining the size, competitiveness and role of social media companies.
“Big Tech, especially Twitter, Inc., is engaged in systematic viewpoint-based discrimination. In the unfortunate phenomenon of ‘cancel culture,’ Twitter plays a leading role in silencing and censoring political speech of conservative Americans,” the lawmakers wrote in a March 4 letter to Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO.
Twitter is out to get conservatives. @Jim_Jordan and @RepKenBuck want answers. pic.twitter.com/Ch8pspMmpg
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) March 4, 2021
“In recent months, Twitter throttled the dissemination of a mainstream newspaper article critical of then-candidate Joe Biden’s son and later took the unprecedented step of de-platforming the sitting President of the United States,” the letter said.
“If Twitter can do this to the President of the United States, it can do it to any American for any reason,” the lawmakers wrote.
Jordon demanded Twitter provide the documentation last summer, but the Big Tech company has stonewalled.
Since then, Twitter’s conduct has only become more brazen, the lawmakers said.
The Republicans asked for an accounting of all content moderation decisions made by Twitter over the last year for U.S. users, including which Twitter rule or policy they allegedly violated and the content of the tweet.
They also want all documents and communications relating to Trump’s June 23 tweet warning summer protestors in D.C. who sought to create a police-free zone they would be met with “serious force.”
“There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone’ in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!,” Trump tweeted.
Twitter flagged the message claiming the president’s statement violated rules about “abusive behavior.”