The House Judiciary Committee made big moves to get to the bottom of foreign attacks on free speech.
On Thursday, the same day that anti-free speech U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited the White House, the House Judiciary Committee announced that it had subpoenaed Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Rumble, TikTok and X to expose efforts by foreign governments to push censorship on these companies and their platforms.
Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) warned in the letters that “a new threat to Americans’ free expression has emerged in the form of foreign laws, regulations, and judicial orders that require or lead American companies to limit what content can be viewed on their platforms in the United States.”
He added, “To protect Americans’ civil liberties, the Committee must investigate the extent and nature of these foreign censorship efforts and their effect on constitutionally protected speech at Home.”
Jordan went on to mention the increasing tendency of foreign governments, like those in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the European Union, to “suppress disfavored views” and fine social media companies that don’t censor what these countries consider to be “‘disinformation.’”
Jordan made clear that he would turn over every stone and expose both foreign efforts to force Big Tech to censor Americans and Biden-era efforts to accomplish the same goals. Jordan called for X to turn over communications with “foreign governments regarding the company’s compliance with foreign censorship laws, regulations, judicial orders, or other government-initiated efforts, and internal X communications discussing communications from foreign governments.”
The Judiciary chairman also denounced foreign attempts to silence Americans on the Thursday edition of CNBC’s Squawk Box. After discussing the myriad foreign threats to free speech, including the free speech of Americans, Jordan told anchor Joe Kernen the purpose behind his actions. “[W]e want to have an impact here and frankly, help American companies,” Jordan explained. “It's a shakedown if they don't follow this law that they know doesn't comply with the rights that we enjoy as Americans under the Constitution.”
In addition to subpoenaing Big Tech, the House Judiciary Committee also advanced the “No Censors on Our Shores Act” on Wednesday, imposing penalties on foreign officials who engage in anti-free speech behavior, such as Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The committee followed this with a letter to Starmer, denouncing him for presiding over a government that investigates and arrests people for speech:”@Keir_Starmer, Welcome to America. Don’t censor our citizens or attack our companies.”
Conservatives are under attack! Contact your 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 using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
