Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) says Republicans and Democrats must come together in the new Congress to fight “Big Tech” censorship online.
(Article by Autumn Johnson republished from NewsBusters.org)
Issa joined Fox Business last week to discuss revelations from internal Twitter files that the U.S. government pressured the company to engage in one-sided censorship. Twitter owner Elon Musk announced shortly after he purchased the company that its internal files would be released in the name of transparency.
Issa echoed his message calling for an immediate investigation on Twitter. “We learned from Twitter that Big Government and Big Tech conspire to limit free speech,” Issa tweeted later along with a clip of the interview. “Congress must now get the truth from Google, Facebook, and the rest.”
We learned from Twitter that Big Government and Big Tech conspire to limit free speech.
Congress must now get the truth from Google, Facebook, and the rest. pic.twitter.com/MogDKbwtp2
— Rep. Darrell Issa (@repdarrellissa) January 3, 2023
Issa praised Musk’s decision to release the files and said Congress must take action to learn the extent of the federal government’s collusion with “Big Tech” social media platforms, including Facebook and Google. In order to accomplish that, Issa said Republicans and Democrats need to come together in an effort to find the truth.
“There has to be a representation of both parties,” he said, noting that an investigation into the depths of the government’s manipulation of social media platforms must take place as soon as possible.
In the interview, Issa said he was surprised that Twitter caved to government pressure to censor certain content without putting up a fight.
Issa added that Congress might have to play a game of “cat and mouse” to get more information from the companies as to how they complied with government directives and why.
Notably, Issa slammed Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff for pressuring Twitter to ban a journalist and called the action a violation of the First Amendment.
“He has been a very successful operative for Democrats using his position heading the Intelligence Committee,” Issa said in the interview.
MRC Free Speech America reported last week that Twitter denied the request, but journalist Matt Taibbi said “almost everyone else’s requests” were granted. Twitter also received requests from state government agencies as well as officials from agencies within the federal government.
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