Tech giants have failed to turn over information about plotting and coordination of insurrection on their platforms, committee alleges.
Meta’s (MVRS) – Get Meta Report Facebook, Alphabet’s (GOOGL) – Get Alphabet Inc. Class A Report Google, Twitter (TWTR) – Get Twitter, Inc. Report and Reddit have been subpoenaed by the the House Jan. 6 committee for records related to the organizing of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson said the companies had failed to turn over documentation sought in connection with the fatal attacks by Trump supporters on Congress a year ago.
Supporters of former president Donald Trump attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, seeking to halt Senate certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory. Five people died as a result of the attacks, and Trump was impeached for a second time by the House of Representatives.
“Two key questions for the Select Committee are how the spread of misinformation and violent extremism contributed to the violent attack on our democracy, and what steps—if any—social media companies took to prevent their platforms from being breeding grounds for radicalizing people to violence,” Thompson said in a statement. It’s disappointing that after months of engagement, we still do not have the documents and information necessary to answer those basic questions.
A spokesperson for Reddit said in an emailed statement that “we received the subpoena and will continue to work with the committee on their requests.”
Twitter declined to comment. Facebook and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Among information sought by the committee are records related to Facebook’s decision to disband its Civic Integrity team immediately after the 2020 election; documents about Google’s decision to allow a “grace period” for violations of its You Tube content moderation policy until Jan.20, 2021; and documents from Twitter explaining its decision to suspend Trump’s account two days after the insurrection.
