The House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), announced on Wednesday that he subpoenaed the heads of five major tech companies.
The subpoenas requested documents and communications related to the federal government’s supposed collusion with these companies to suppress free speech.
Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft all received subpoenas, while Twitter was notably absent from the list.
Jordan’s press release stated that the House Judiciary Committee had made repeated attempts to communicate with these companies since last December, but they had not adequately complied with their requests.
Jordan’s letters singled out Twitter for praise, citing the transparency the company showed in interactions with the government over censorship.
The Ohio representative also referred to the Twitter Files, which had revealed internal communications at Twitter that exposed how big tech and the federal government worked together to undermine First Amendment principles.
“Numerous internal documents from Twitter reflect the weaponization of the federal government’s power to censor speech online,” said Jordan, who set a deadline of March 23.
“These subpoenas are the first step in holding Big Tech accountable,” Jordan’s office said in a statement.
“We have started producing documents, are engaged with the Committee, and committed to working in good faith,” Microsoft spokesperson said.
The CEOs of the companies subpoenaed were Sundar Pichai for Alphabet and Google, Andy Jassy for Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg for Meta and Facebook, Tim Cook for Apple, and Satya Nadella for Microsoft.
