Rep. James Comer, after his letter demanding Twitter preserve all communications related to its October 2020 decision to ban a New York Post story concerning Hunter Biden's laptop, tells Newsmax there is "no question" the blocked story affected the outcome of the presidential election a month later.
"One of the big priorities for the Republicans in January, hopefully, when we retake the [House] majority, will be to hold big tech accountable for all that," the Kentucky Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" on Friday. "They suppressed conservative media and tried to ban conservatives from social media, and what we would like to know is exactly what the communication was, and what all the correspondence was between Twitter executives to make that decision."
And, Comer said, "If Twitter is going to continue to enjoy the liability protection from Section 230, then we need to know without a shadow of a doubt what their thought process was."
In a letter to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal this week that was obtained by the Daily Caller, Comer wrote that the "the American people have a right to know the policies and decision-makers responsible for suppressing certain views and information on Twitter."
Comer also said he doesn't believe former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's testimony in 2020 claiming that the decision to block the story was a "mistake" that the company tried to correct immediately.
"I have seen too much from Twitter over the last three or four years that would lead me to believe they're the ultimate woke company that tries to do everything in their ability to censor conservatives," said Comer. "But, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. So all they have to do is show us the correspondence, the communication, the whole thought process behind this."
He added that he doesn't think the decision came from a lower-level employee sending an email to someone higher up the chain of command to ask that the Post's story be banned.
"This had to be a pretty major decision right down the stretch of the presidential race, and this is a major media publication, the New York Post," said Comer. "If they're innocent, they'll provide us the document. They continue to not work with Congress, not work with Republicans."
Meanwhile, Comer said he thinks billionaire Elon Musk's push to buy Twitter, including his statements this week that he has $46.5 billion in financing in place, could be the "best end" to fixing Twitter's problems.
"I hope the same thing will happen with Facebook because you can't legislate these things," said Comer. "As a conservative Republican, we want liability protection. We want less government, less rules and regulations."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
Related Stories:
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, FUBO and major OTT platforms like Roku, YouTube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV's including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizio and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here
Related Stories:
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.