In an announcement made this past Wednesday,m House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) stated that has already issued official subpoenas to the head executives of a group of five Big Tech companies.
These subpoenas are sent in order to seek out documents and communications “relating to the federal government’s reported collusion with Big Tech to suppress free speech,” as reported by a press release sent out by Jordan’s office.
The people who were issued subpoenas were the chief executive officers of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.
“The House Judiciary Committee has repeatedly attempted to engage with the five companies since last December. Unfortunately, the companies have not adequately complied with our requests,” explained the press release.
Notably, Twitter was not listed among the companies on the subpoena list. To the contrary, the letters from Jordan actually laud how Twitter “set a benchmark for how transparent Big Tech companies can be about interactions with government over censorship.”
The recently released Twitter Files, which fully unveiled to the public a series of internal communication at Twitter, “have exposed how Big Tech and the federal government have worked hand in hand in ways that undermine First Amendment principles,” explained the chairman. “Numerous internal documents from Twitter reflect the weaponization of the federal government’s power to censor speech online.”
Jordan, who also holds the role of the new House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, set an official deadline as the 23rd of March.
“Step one towards accountability,” he stated in regard to the subpoenas.
We just subpoenaed Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple regarding Big Tech’s reported collusion with the federal government.
Step one towards accountability.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 15, 2023
“We have started producing documents, are engaged with the Committee, and committed to working in good faith,” stated a spokesperson for Microsoft as a response to the subpoenas.
Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Alphabet and its subsidiary Google. Mark Zuckerberg is the CEO of Meta and co-founder of its social media website Facebook. Andy Jassy is the CEO of Amazon. Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple. Satya Nadella is chairman and CEO of Microsoft.