Three House Republicans sent a letter on Tuesday requesting that President Joe Biden provide records connected to communications and meetings between the White House and social media giants Facebook and Twitter over so-called "misinformation" on those platforms, the New York Post reported.
"We remain concerned with attempts by your administration to pressure private companies like Twitter and Facebook to censor certain speech or silence individuals with whom you disagree," stated the letter, which was sent by House Energy & Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington as well as fellow GOP Reps. Robert Latta of Ohio and Gus Bilirakis of Florida.
The letter, obtained exclusively by the New York Post, comes one week after District Judge Terry Doughty ordered the White House to hand over emails that press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, and other officials sent to social media companies.
The order from Doughty was in response to a lawsuit by Attorneys General Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Jeff Landry of Louisiana alleging that the Biden administration colluded with Facebook and Twitter to "censor freedom of speech" on several important topics.
"We know that administration officials and federal bureaucrats requested these companies to censor legitimate news stories and public discourse regarding the COVID-19 pandemic under the guise of combating misinformation, disinformation, and election interference," read the letter from the House Republicans. "We write to express our continued concerns with the behavior of your administration and federal agencies, and to request documents and information regarding these reports."
The lawmakers gave Biden until Sept. 26 to hand over the documents, one day before the judge’s deadline for the administration to turn in its emails, according to the New York Post.
Landry and Schmitt charged that "dozens of federal officials across at least eleven federal agencies" engaged in a "massive, sprawling federal ‘Censorship Enterprise’" with the "intent and effect of pressuring social-media platforms to censor and suppress private speech that federal officials disfavor."
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