House Republicans are ready to give Big Tech the Benghazi treatment.

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House Republicans may have a powerful new panel slated to grill big tech companies on long-suspected dates earlier this week, but Mostly unproven Charges Conservative censorship and government complicity.. Although Democrats and tech industry experts have rejected the committee’s proposal, the panel could force tech companies and their executives to take center stage in the GOP’s desire to directly disclose even the smallest ones. A modicum that proves that Technology companies have carried out censorship measures on the order Federal government.

Starting soon. It is called a diagnostic panel Select Federal Government Weapons Subcommitteeconsent Helped by the representative of Ohio and Donald Trump Strong-line Jim Jordan, According to recent reports Axios And CNBC. At its highest level, the broadly defined new panel has the authority to investigate the ways in which federal government agencies collect information on US citizens. The committee is likely to include a handful of the party’s staunch conservatives. It is reported Part of the agreement to the extreme His party California Representative Kevin McCarthy respectively To confirm their current role as Speaker of the House. The main target, according to Axios, concerns “the politicization of the FBI.”

As part of the disclosure, the “weapons” committee may request major tech platforms such as Meta and Twitter’s fork of emails, memos and other communications in an effort to show intended cooperation in their dealings with the White House. The committee’s interest in technology companies is said to be the origin. in part From the suspected interior Documents Revealed by Elon Musk in the “so-calledTwitter filesHe said. Although it is a part of the public vote He believes. That’s what he said. It shows a series of sporadic document dumps Evidence of tech-enhanced liberal bias leaves many others, including major Republicans, unscathed. Not impressed In the findings.

Focused on technology An investigation is said to be scrutinizing technology companies. Communication to find evidence Government error in connection with the platform. In addition, the committee does Look for that “evidence”. Tech companies have deliberately tried to silence conversations around hot-button issues. Issues such as COVID-19 responses and CDC policies. The committee will scrutinize any details about the Hunter Biden laptop scandal that censorship-focused Republicans believe is the smoking gun of a shadowy tech boogeyman.

It is estimated that Jordan, the chairman of the committee, told the people a Preview Last month, he accused five tech company CEOs of colluding with the Biden administration to “reach out to conservatives.” In less than a day, former President Donald Trump released his own dramatic but largely inconsistent statement Freedom of speech policy plan Similarly, taking shots at tech companies.

“The collaboration of Big Tech and Big Government to advance censorship irrevocably undermines freedom and threatens our nation’s First Amendment values ​​and protections,” Jordan wrote in the letter.

Several Democratic lawmakers, including Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, said it was highly unlikely the new committee would have support outside the Republican Party.

“I don’t think he’s qualified because he’s already tainted,” Grijalva said in his comments. Interview With The Intercept. “The premise of this is all the comments the Republican majority gave to the FBI about spying on Trump in relation to going through our letters and conspiracy theories. It’s already tainted. It’s worthless.”

Rep. Ro Canna of California, meanwhile, pushed back against Republicans trying to label the new “weapons” committee as a spiritual successor to the 1975 church committee.

“What the church committee did to compare these is a complete misunderstanding,” Khanna told The Intercept. “If the question we’re working on is that the government is not engaged in surveillance, then we should be engaged in enacting an Internet Rights Act and enacting a law prohibiting surveillance.”

White House spokesman Ian Sams similarly derided the committee as focused on “useless political issues.”

Although a panel aimed at curbing technology bias may sound like bad news for tech companies, NetChoice, a leading trade organization, Members of the association inclusion Google, Meta, And TikTok, appeared to accept investigations.

“After two years of one-party rule, Congress, with the help of this House committee, shows how far our government has done to stifle free speech online,” Carl Szabo, NetChoice’s vice president and general counsel, told Gizmodo. “

Szabo went on to say that the committee can play an important role in restoring trust Regardless of its actual findings, the government’s freedom of speech online.

Szabo added, “The best case scenario is that nothing happens and it can help restore confidence in our law enforcement.” Unfortunately, much of what we learn from the Twitter files is only the tip of the iceberg, and the coercion, politics, and weaponry of our law enforcement officers run much deeper.

The GOP’s new investigations could make a big difference, with previously undisclosed documents proving tech companies engage in anti-democratic censorship at the behest of government actors. very lucky, However, this will be followed by the new House Select Committee. Select Committee on Benghaziand other committees appointed by politicians: a lot of fuss, but little Substance.



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