A bipartisan Texas Senate committee just unanimously voted to subpoena Big Tech companies and force them to answer for their election-interfering censorship efforts.
After a hearing that MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider testified at on Wednesday, May 29, the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs voted unanimously to authorize subpoenas to Big Tech companies. “There is strong evidence that big tech imposes their own biases to manipulate and stifle dissenting voices, undermining election integrity. Texas will not stand for that,” Committee Chair Sen. Bryan Hughes (R) wrote in an X post. The authorization document that Hughes posted calls upon Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads, TikTok and X.
Today the Senate Committee on State Affairs voted unanimously to authorize subpoenas to big tech firms like Facebook and Google.
— Senator Bryan Hughes (@SenBryanHughes) May 29, 2024
There is strong evidence that big tech imposes their own biases to manipulate and stifle dissenting voices, undermining election integrity. Texas… pic.twitter.com/osOfyBbTzr
Committee Vice Chair Sen. Angela Paxton (R) celebrated the move in an X post. “Senate State Affairs just unanimously voted to issue subpoenas to Alphabet, Meta, TikTok & others in regards to ways to identify & neutralize threats to Texas’s security,” she said. “We are standing up to big tech to ensure the safety & privacy of our children & all Texans!”
UPDATE: Senate State Affairs just unanimously voted to issue subpoenas to Alphabet, Meta, TikTok & others in regards to ways to identify & neutralize threats to Texas’s security. We are standing up to big tech to ensure the safety & privacy of our children & all Texans! #txlege pic.twitter.com/e6SMAyRP8H
— Senator Angela Paxton (@AngelaPaxtonTX) May 29, 2024
Democrats and Republicans of this committee united on the issue of free speech after holding a hearing on Big Tech censorship. The hearing featured testimony from MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider, Google whistleblower Zac Vorhies, Facebook whistleblower Ryan Hartwig and research psychologist Robert Epstein who has conducted many studies on how Google Search impacts how people vote.
Bombshell testimony in the Senate State Affairs Committee from @Schneider_DC , whistleblower Zach Vorhies of @Google and Ryan Hartwig of @facebook regarding big tech interference in our elections. #txlege @Project_Veritas pic.twitter.com/TmAVdfaHqY
— Senator Bryan Hughes (@SenBryanHughes) May 29, 2024
During the hearing, Schneider spoke to the urgency of defending free speech. “[W]e are at risk of losing the First Amendment entirely,” he said. “The Google/Facebook attorney has argued that our individual rights to free speech are nothing compared to the government’s right to free speech to coordinate with Big Tech to silence individuals, which of course turns the First Amendment upside down.”
He also stressed that social media companies are not merely infringing upon users' rights to free speech but other First Amendment rights as well.
“It’s important for you all to know that Google and Facebook, and these other Big Tech firms, they’ve resurrected the Plessy v. Ferguson standard,” Schneider said. “They believe that not only can they discriminate against people based on political viewpoint, they can, and in fact do, discriminate against people based on race and religion,” he added referring to a case in which Facebook argued that it could discriminate against a Sikh religious group.
The infamous Plessy v. Ferguson decision – sometimes referred to as the "separate but equal" case – empowered racial discrimination by common carriers. Discredited by history, Plessy was rightfully overturned by the unanimous Brown v. Board of Education decision.
MRC Business and Free Speech America Staff Writer Tom Olohan contributed to this report.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency and an 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.
