On Tuesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent letters to the Chief Executive Officers of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Director Chris Wray demanding documents of the Executive Branch’s recent interactions with social media and technology companies.
The Judiciary Committee is conducting oversight of how and to what extent the Executive Branch has coerced or colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor lawful speech. In February 2023, the Committee issued subpoenas for documents related to Big Tech’s communications with the Executive Branch, including the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) and San Francisco Field Office.
A federal court enjoined the Executive Branch’s collusion with Big Tech in July 2023; but the injunction was stayed. On March 20, 2024, an FBI spokesperson confirmed that the FITF has recently resumed communicating with major social media and technology companies.
With the resumption of meetings between the FBI’s FTIF and Big Tech, the Committee’s letters remind the Executive Branch and companies that all documents and communications relating to ongoing discussions between the FBI and each Big Tech company fall within the scope of the Committee’s subpoenas.
Excerpts of the letter to Mark Zuckerberg:
“Given the FITF’s improper role in communicating with social media and technology companies during the 2020 presidential election, the resumption of meetings between the FITF and Big Tech before the 2024 presidential election is deeply troubling. These meetings stopped after the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction against the FBI that prohibited it from coercing or significantly encouraging social media companies to censor content, which was largely affirmed by a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. But following the Supreme Court’s recent stay of the injunction, the FITF ‘resumed outreach’ with social media companies. According to an FBI spokesperson, the purpose of this outreach is ‘to facilitate sharing information about foreign malign influence with social media companies.’
“The communications and documentation pertaining to Meta’s ongoing communications with the FBI are covered by the February 15, 2023, subpoena. The subpoena is ‘continuing in nature.’ Therefore, all documents and communications relating to the FBI’s new outreach efforts to Meta and FITF meetings are responsive to the Committee’s subpoena as they refer or relate to how the FBI is communicating with Meta regarding content moderation.
“Accordingly, the following categories of documents are responsive to the subpoena:
- All records, notes, and other documents of interactions between or among Meta and the FITF or the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office.
- All communications and documents between or among Meta and the FBI relating to information sharing as it relates to alleged foreign influence or election integrity.
- All internal communications and documents relating to information sharing with the FBI as it relates to alleged foreign influence or election integrity.
Please produce these documents as soon as possible, but no later than two weeks after each meeting between Meta and the FBI takes place.”
Read the full letter to Alphabet here.
Read the full letter to Amazon here.
Read the full letter to Apple here.
Read the full letter to Meta here.
Read the full letter to Microsoft here.
Read the full letter to Attorney General Garland here.
Read the full letter to Director Wray here.
