The House committee said the firms were “unwilling to commit to voluntarily and expeditiously” cooperating with its work.Credit...Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times |
The committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, demanded
records Thursday from the companies relating to their role in allegedly
spreading misinformation about the 2020 election and promoting domestic violent
extremism on their platforms in the lead-up to the insurrection on January 6,
2021.
“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 radicalisng people
to violence," Thompson, D-Miss., said in the letter.
Thompson added that it's “disappointing that after months of
engagement,” the four companies have not voluntarily turned over the necessary
information and documents that would help lawmakers answer the questions at the
heart of their investigation.
In his letter, Thompson outlined the way the companies were
complicit in the deadly insurrection perpetrated by supporters of Donald Trump
and far-right groups.
YouTube, owned by Alphabet, was the platform where a
significant amount of communication took place “relevant to the planning and
execution" of the siege against the Capitol, "including livestreams
of the attack as it was taking place,” the letter stated.
In a statement to the Associated Press, a YouTube
spokesperson said it is “actively cooperating” with the committee and is
committed to stopping content that incites violence or undermines faith in
elections.
”We enforced these policies in the run-up to January 6 and
continue to do so today,” the spokesperson wrote.
The committee also outlined how how Meta, formerly known as
Facebook, was reportedly used to exchange hateful, violent and inciting
messages between users as well as spread misinformation that the 2020
presidential election was fraudulent in an attempt to coordinate the “Stop the
Steal” movement.
In response, Meta said it too was working with the committee
to get lawmakers the information they requested.
On Reddit, the r/The_Donald “subreddit” community grew
significantly, the letter said, before members migrated to an official website
where investigators believe discussions around the planning of the attack were
hosted. A spokesperson for Reddit said Thursday that the company had received
the subpoena and “will continue to work with the committee on their requests.”
The letter further detailed how Twitter was warned about the
potential violence that was being planned on its platform in advance of the
attack and how its users engaged in “communications amplifying allegations of
election fraud, including by the former President himself.”
One specific tweet from Trump on December 19, 2020 was
highlighted: “Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election” as he
urged followers to come to Washington to engage in a “wild” protest on January
6, 2021.
A spokesperson for Twitter declined to comment on the
subpoenas.
The committee made its initial request for the documents
from 15 social media companies in August, which also included TikTok, Parler,
Telegram, 4chan, and 8kun.
The subpoenas come as the nine-member committee continues
its wide-reaching investigation into how a mob was able to infiltrate the
Capitol and disrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's presidential
victory, in what was the most serious assault on Congress in two centuries.
The committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans has
interviewed more than 340 people and issued dozens of subpoenas to those in
Trump's inner circle, including his former chief of staff, as well as requests
to their own colleagues in the House.
On Wednesday, the committee requested an interview with
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
McCarthy as well as GOP Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Scott
Perry of Pennsylvania have denied the committee's request to sit down for
interviews or turn over documents related to their conversations on January 6,
2021, with Trump or those close to him as hundreds of his supporters beat
police, stormed the building and interrupted the certification of the 2020
election.
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