Chair of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan has subpoenaed the CEOs of Big Tech companies to hand over documents related to alleged collusion with the federal government to suppress free speech.
Jordan sent the subpoenas to Google’s Sundar Pichai, Amazon’s Andy Jassy, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella.
“The House Judiciary Committee has repeatedly attempted to engage with the five companies since last December,” Jordan’s office said. “Unfortunately, the companies have not adequately complied with our requests.”
“Congress has an important role in protecting and advancing fundamental free speech principles, including by examining how private actors coordinate with the government to suppress First Amendment-protected speech,” Jordan’s office said. “These subpoenas are the first step in holding Big Tech accountable.”
The companies have until March 23 to hand over the records.
Jordan requested the documents in December before the Republicans took control of the House. At the time, he and other GOP members in the committee said that there was evidence social media platforms were “colluding with the Biden administration to suppress free speech online.”
“Big Tech is out to get conservatives and is increasingly willing to undermine First Amendment values by complying with the Biden administration’s directives that suppress freedom of speech online.
“This approach undermines fundamental American principles and allows powerful government actors to silence political opponents and stifle opposing viewpoints.”
He added that these companies’ “treatment of certain speakers and content may stem from government directives or guidance designed to suppress dissenting views.”
Jordan’s statements came as new Twitter CEO Elon Musk was releasing documents, dubbed the Twitter Files, that exposed the platform’s history of censorship, most notably the suppression of the Hunter Biden story and how the FBI and other government officials repeatedly asked Twitter to censor content and accounts.
