WASHINGTON – The top Republican on a key House subcommittee has issued a subpoena to the Biden administration as it investigates whether the federal government is trying to limit information shared on social media platforms ahead of the November election.
Nancy Mays, R-S.C., chairwoman of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology and Government Innovation, issued a subpoena on Thursday to establish contacts between the Biden administration and social media companies such as Facebook owner Meta.
The subpoena, first shared with NBC News, comes after Mace requested the information in September and the administration did not respond. In a letter to the White House obtained by NBC News, Mace wrote that it is the administration’s responsibility to be transparent in its interactions with social media companies before the election, so voters are aware of what steps the government may take. restrict the flow of certain types of data.
“The Biden-Harris Administration has announced a willingness to manipulate the content of social media sites,” Mace wrote, referring to the administration’s 2021 acknowledgment that it was working with social media companies to flag misinformation on their platforms. Related to Covid-19.
“The White House has not apologized for this activity or indicated that it will cease and desist from such behavior,” Mace said.
Conservatives have accused the White House of pressuring companies like Meta and Twitter to remove content that doesn’t serve the administration’s political agenda. Supreme Court this summer made his claims The Biden administration forced social media companies to illegally moderate content, but conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the majority that the platforms had “independently” “strengthened” their moderation policies before the Biden administration got involved.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta He wrote to House Republicans In August, White House officials pressured the company to censor some material related to Covid-19, and although the platform complied with some of their requests, he said he now regrets that decision.
Mace points to statements made by Brendan Carr, the top Republican at the Federal Communications Commission, as an example of possible attempts by the administration to suppress content. Carr Posted in X an example of a Facebook post criticizing the Biden-Harris administration that was labeled as misinformation by the platform, citing independent third-party fact-checkers. After Carr publicly complained about the flagging of the posts, Meta reviewed the posts and determined that the fact-checking process did not meet their standards and raised a disinformation flag.
A spokesman for Meta declined to comment on Mace’s letter.
The new subpoena requests documents from the White House, including: All communications with social media companies and any private sector entity regarding the withholding or suppression of information on their sites, and all communications between federal employees regarding the withholding or suppression of information. communications. social media companies and any private sector entity from January 1, 2024 until now.
The subcommittee’s ranking member, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said the subpoena was an overreaction and that Republicans were the real problem.
“The only evidence of collusion with a social media company is the Trump campaign’s dubious connection to Elon Musk, the owner of X, who handed out million-dollar checks at campaign rallies in violation of federal campaign finance law,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.