Originally published July 17, 2023 2:00 pm PDT
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has raised concerns over the possibility of censorship on “Threads,” the newly launched social media platform from Meta, formerly known as Facebook.
The Committee’s Chairman, Jim Jordan, issued a letter to Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, asking for clarification on this matter.
The concerns expressed stem from a subpoena that was issued to Meta on Feb 15, 2023, related to content moderation and the tech giant’s interactions with the Executive Branch over the suppression of speech.
“Since the Committee’s subpoena to Meta, we have obtained additional evidence that the federal government has coerced or colluded with technology, social media, and other companies to moderate content online,” Jordan stated in the letter.
The Committee expressed worries about a trend they see as “censorship by proxy,” where the Executive Branch allegedly employs third parties to censor or discourage speech it couldn’t directly suppress.
According to the letter, “These examples reinforce the Committee’s serious concerns about whether the Executive Branch is engaging in censorship by proxy—using surrogates to censor, suppress, or discourage speech in a manner that the government is unable to do itself.”
Further deepening the concerns, Jordan referred to a federal court ruling on July 4, that found such government coercion or collusion with social media platforms to suppress certain speech types could have infringed on the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.
Drawing a clear link to the social media giant, Jordan continued, “The court recognized that Meta played a central role in this censorship scheme, frequently acquiescing and catering to the government’s requests and demands.”
The Committee hopes to inform new legislation aimed at limiting the Executive Branch’s ability to work with tech companies to control content and deplatform users.
Jordan stated that in order to develop effective legislation, 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.”
The Committee’s concerns are further heightened by the launch of Threads, Meta’s new social media platform.
The platform, despite having launched just 12 days ago, has already been implicated in censorship cases, providing no grounds for appeal to users being censored.
“Despite launching only 12 days ago, there are reports that Threads is already engaging in censorship, including censoring users but offering no grounds for appeal,” the letter claims.
In conclusion, the letter calls for Meta to provide all documents and information related to Threads by July 31, 2023, as part of the ongoing discovery obligations.
It reads, “Please produce all documents and information as soon as possible but no later than 5:00 p.m. on July 31, 2023. In addition, please treat these discovery obligations as ongoing and applicable to any information generated after receipt of this letter.”
The tension between the tech giant and the judiciary committee is likely to continue as this situation unfolds.
You can read the full letter below:
