Originally published June 5, 2023 2:00 pm PDT
In a press release dated June 1, 2023, the House Committee on the Judiciary, under the chairmanship of Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), expressed its concerns about the Stanford Internet Observatory’s (SIO) alleged role in censoring free speech.
The committee questioned the SIO’s compliance with a subpoena issued earlier in the year, on April 12, demanding the production of relevant documents.
Rep. Jordan’s press release states, “The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of how and to what extent the Executive Branch has coerced or colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor lawful speech.”
The Committee accuses SIO of “involvement in the censorship of disfavored speech,” citing SIO’s membership in the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) and the Virality Project (VP).
The statement adds that both EIP and VP used Atlassian’s Jira Service Desk to file “tickets” for alleged mis- and disinformation.
The press release refers to the final summary reports issued by EIP and VP in 2021 and 2022 regarding the 2020 election and COVID-19 vaccines respectively.
It states that “individuals affiliated with SIO tracked both specific posts and entire ‘narratives’ through the Jira ticketing system and shared them, at a minimum, with large social media companies.”
The Committee alleges that large social media companies moderated content based on these tickets and other information shared by Stanford personnel.
Rep. Jordan states, “EIP boasted that ‘Twitter, Google, Facebook, and TikTok all had a 75% or higher response rate (on the EIP Jira ticketing platform) to tickets they were tagged in.’”
According to the press release, despite repeated requests, Stanford has refused to provide documents and communications related to the Jira tickets.
The Committee has termed this refusal as a defiance of the legal obligations imposed by the subpoena.
The Committee’s letter calls out this inconsistency and demands Stanford’s full compliance.
In the letter, Rep. Jordan warns that “if Stanford fails to comply in full with the subpoena’s demands, the Committee may be forced to consider the use of one or more enforcement mechanisms.”
He has given Stanford a deadline of June 14, 2023, to provide all requested documents.
Stanford University and the SIO have yet to publicly respond to these accusations.
Read the full letter below:
