Voice of America
14 Jan 2022, 15:44 GMT+10
WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol subpoenaed Meta, Alphabet, Twitter, and Reddit on Thursday, seeking information about how their social media platforms were used to help fuel misinformation in a failed bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
'Two key questions for the Select Committee are how the spread of misinformation and violent extremism contributed to the violent attack on our democracy, and what steps - if any - social media companies took to prevent their platforms from being breeding grounds for radicalizing people to violence,' the House Select Committee's chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson, said in a statement.
'It's disappointing that after months of engagement, we still do not have the documents and information necessary to answer those basic questions.'
The subpoenas are the latest development in the panel's investigation into the causes of the attack on the Capitol by then-President Donald Trump's supporters, and the role played by Trump, who has pushed false claims that he lost a rigged election to Joe Biden.
The committee has issued more than 50 subpoenas and heard from more than 300 witnesses. It is expected to release an interim report in the summer and a final report in the fall.
Spokespeople for the four social media companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Social media platforms were widely blamed for amplifying calls to violence and spreading misinformation that contributed to the January 6 attempt to violently overturn the election results.
Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey were grilled by lawmakers last March in a hearing on misinformation about the role of their companies in the Capitol riot.
In a letter sent this week to Zuckerberg, Representative Thompson said that 'despite repeated and specific requests for documents' related to Facebook's practices on election misinformation and violent content, the committee had still not received these materials. Letters to the other three CEOs contained similar criticisms.
Get a daily dose of Australian Herald news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Australian Herald.
More InformationGENEVA, Switzerland: The World Health Organization (WHO) has received a proposal by 13 member states requesting that Taiwan be allowed ...
BRUSSELS, Belgium: European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said that the bloc would ensure Ukraine that it has ...
Former U.S. President George W. Bush has made an embarrassing mistake in criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin over his decision ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: The U.S. State Department has announced the launch of a new program to capture and analyze evidence of ...
JAKARTA, Indonesia: A new poll released this week indicated that Indonesian President Joko Widodo's approval rating has hit a six-year ...
EAST JAVA, Indonesia: A tourist bus crashed into a billboard on a highway on Indonesia's main island of Java this ...
Melbourne [Australia], May 21 (ANI): As Australia goes for elections on Saturday, China has no expectations from the election as ...
Beijing [China], May 21 (ANI): China's coal imports from Russia nearly doubled between March and April, reaching 4.42 million metric ...
New Delhi [India], May 21 (ANI/ATK): Unified Brainz Celebrated the Success of Women leading by example with Glitz, GlamourGlory on ...
SYDNEY - Australians vote in a national election on Saturday, with opinion polls showing the opposition Labor Party narrowly ahead ...
London - Scientists who have monitored numerous outbreaks of monkeypox in Africa say they are baffled by the disease's recent ...
The international health watchdog summons experts to discuss the rapid spread of monkeypox, the Telegraph reportsThe latest spread of the ...