Senate Judiciary Committee Votes to Subpoena Facebook, Twitter CEOs

October 22nd, 2020 4:03 PM

Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing today, which will soon go to the Senate floor for a vote. But that was not the only item on the agenda.

The Senate Judiciary Committee (the Committee) also voted to issue subpoenas to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, which will require both to testify regarding Twitter’s censorship and Facebook’s suppression of the bombshell New York Post story. In its reporting, the New York Post claimed to expose the alleged corrupt dealings of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.  

The vote to subpoena, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, was unanimous, given the fact that the Democratic members of the Committee boycotted today’s hearing.

According to the motion made by Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the CEOs will testify about: 

  • “(1) the suppression and/or censorship of two news articles from the New York Post titled ‘Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad’ and ‘Emails reveal how Hunter Biden tried to cash in big on behalf of family with Chinese firm,’
  • “(2) any other content moderation policies, practices, or actions that may interfere with or influence elections for federal office,
  • “(3) any other recent determinations to temporarily reduce distribution of material pending fact-checker review and/or block and mark material as potentially unsafe.”

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) celebrated the Committee’s decision on Twitter, saying: “#BigTech CEOs are drunk on power & must be held accountable for interfering in this election. Last week I led calls to subpoena @Twitter & @Facebook’s CEOs to testify before @senjudiciary. Today my colleagues passed that subpoena. We will get answers for the American people.”

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) tweeted: “Senate Judiciary Committee has just voted subpoenas to @Facebook and @Twitter - all Republicans voting yes. BIG victory that didn’t look possible even 24 hrs ago.”

Conservatives are under attack. Contact Facebook headquarters at 1-650-308-7300 and Twitter at (415) 222-9670, and contact your state representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.