Oversight House Comette
Former Twitter employees testified on their decision to restrict protected speech and interfere in the democratic process
WASHINGTON — Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing titled “Protecting Speech from Government Interference and Social Media Bias, Part 1: Twitter’s Role in Suppressing the Biden Laptop Story.”Chairman Comer and Committee Republicans detailed how Twitter worked closely with the federal government to actively monitor and censor Americans online. Under the leadership of former Twitter employees Vijaya Gadde, James Baker, and Yoel Roth, Twitter coordinated extensively with the FBI to disproportionately target Republican leaders, conservative activists, and certain media outlets. In October 2020, Twitter censored the New York Post’s story about the Biden family’s business schemes based on the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, despite the article not violating any Twitter policies.
Key Takeaways:
Social media companies, including Twitter, are powerful entities that have the potential to influence public opinion and behavior.
Under former Twitter employees’ watch, Twitter devolved into a private company the FBI and federal government infiltrated to deliberately limit free speech, particularly conservative speech and news contrary to the mainstream narrative.
Former Twitter employees admitted the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story didn’t violate any Twitter policies but it was taken down anyway. They also admitted they made no attempt to verify the authenticity of the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Member Highlights:
Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) emphasized that Twitter executives made no attempt to verify whether the Hunter Biden laptop materials were authentic before censoring the New York Post story.