A House subcommittee formed to probe the “weaponization” of the federal government will hold its second hearing next week, in which lawmakers will focus on allegations of collusion between Twitter and government officials.
Social media’s censorship efforts during the 2020 election and beyond emerged as a top area of concern during the subcommittee’s first hearing earlier this month. Lawmakers showed a particular interest in recently published reports that detailed how the FBI worked closely with Twitter to suppress information harmful to Democrats.
The subcommittee was still finalizing the witness list on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the planning.
SEVEN TAKEAWAYS FROM THE HOUSE GOP'S FIRST 'WEAPONIZATION' HEARING
After Tesla founder Elon Musk purchased Twitter last year, he gave a handful of independent journalists access to an extensive amount of internal company records as he sought to change Twitter’s culture.
That effort produced a series of reports known as the “Twitter Files,” which detailed everything from partisan bias within the company’s corporate ranks to payments Twitter received from the FBI in exchange for its compliance with the bureau’s requests.
The subcommittee will likely dive deeper into the allegations that Twitter targeted conservatives, sometimes at the behest of the federal government, in its second hearing next week. The panel’s first hearing earlier this month lasted several hours and included mentions of Twitter in a much more expansive look at the federal government’s attitudes toward freedom of speech.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who chairs both the subcommittee and the House Judiciary Committee, said his committee issued subpoenas earlier this month to Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple over what he described as their secretive work with the federal government to advance political agendas.
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Twitter was not on the list of companies that received subpoenas at that time; however, former Twitter executives have provided information to House Republicans, most recently during a hearing with the House Oversight Committee.
Democrats have sought to portray the "weaponization" subcommittee as a purely partisan exercise. However, the subcommittee — which is housed within the Judiciary Committee but was also formed as a select committee, allowing members not on Judiciary to join — includes a number of Democrats.