House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has issued subpoenas to officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), seeking documents connected to his investigation of alleged collusion between government and big tech to censor speech.
Jordan issued a press release, saying:
“The Twitter Files and other public reporting have exposed how the federal government has pressured and colluded with Big Tech and other intermediaries to censor certain viewpoints in ways that undermine First Amendment principles.”
The Ohio Republican sent letters to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, CISA Director Jen Easterly, and GEC Special Envoy and Coordinator James Rubin.
“The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of how and the extent to which the Executive Branch has coerced and colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor speech,” read all of the letters.
“To develop effective legislation, such as the possible enactment of new statutory limits on the Executive Branch’s ability to work with social media platforms and other companies to restrict the circulation of content and deplatform users, the Committee on the Judiciary must first understand how and to what extent the Executive Branch coerced and colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor speech.”
“To this end, we have asked for communications between the [agency], private companies, and other third-party groups such as nonprofit organizations, in addition to other information. Your response without compulsory process has, to date, been inadequate,” they further read.
Jordan noted Committee previously sought the voluntary cooperation of each agency, pointing out o the attached subpoenas are compelling cooperation.
The subpoenas come as Republicans accelerate efforts to investigate how the Biden administration and social media companies have remained in close contact regarding content moderation online.
“Freedom of speech is one of the most important rights we have in this country,” Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told the Washington Examiner.
“The collusion between our federal government and Big Tech undermines First Amendment principles and should be investigated.”
As The Washington Examiner reports:
The Biden administration has continued to come under fire for its efforts to stave off alleged “disinformation,” especially following a series of Washington Examiner reports detailing how the Global Engagement Center funded a group blacklisting conservative media outlets called the Global Disinformation Index.
The “Twitter Files,” a series of stories published by Matt Taibbi and other journalists based on internal Twitter documents and communications, have also revealed how the government under President Joe Biden repeatedly emailed employees at the company, such as ex-general counsel Vijaya Gadde, to suggest suppression of certain information.
READ: TWITTER FILES: Hillary Clinton behind FBI Witch Hunt for Non-Existent Russian Accounts
