Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, will chair a new House select committee that will probe Big Tech’s interactions with the White House, Axios reported.
The House Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government will focus on the Biden administration’s alleged actions in pressuring social media platforms to censor conservative accounts and content.
It’s partly a response to Elon Musk’s “Twitter Files,” Axios reported
Musk, Twitter’s new owner who took control in October, has leaked internal documents and conversations that took place under the social media platform’s previous management.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy, elected to his position last week, agreed to the select committee’s creation when he was seeking votes from House conservatives.
The House panel will demand copies of White House emails, memos, and other communications with Big Tech companies, sources told Axios.
Musk has used several journalists to release information showing that President Joe Biden’s team pressured and worked with Twitter to censor conservative voices and specific content, including issues involving COVID and first son Hunter Biden.
Jordan in late December said the Twitter Files raised concerns the FBI “maintained this relationship with Twitter apart from any particularized need for a specific investigation, but as a permanent and ongoing surveillance operation.”
The lawmaker also wrote a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and requested records on the bureau’s role in Twitter censoring.
Axios said the select committee’s request for documents will be followed by “compulsory processes,” including subpoenas if needed.
The House panel also will probe:
- Dr. Anthony Fauci and his approach to COVID misinformation and disinformation.
- The Justice Department’s interaction with local school boards about COVID policies including mask mandates
- The Department of Homeland Security’s failed Disinformation Governance Board.
McCarthy indicated he planned an aggressive approach as speaker even though Biden and a Democrat-led Senate pose major challenges in advancing legislation.
“We’re going to pass bills to fix the nation’s urgent challenges — from wide-open Southern borders, to American last energy policies, to woke indoctrination in our schools,” McCarthy said after being elected speaker.
“We’ll also address America’s long-term challenges — the debt and the rise of the Chinese Communist Party.”
He also promised to “hold ‘the Swamp’ accountable — from the withdrawal [from] Afghanistan, to the origins of COVID, and to the weaponization of the FBI.”
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., will chair the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which will change its name to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.