Benny Thompson, D-Miss (AP Photo / Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON (AP) – Months after requesting documents from more than a dozen social media outlets, the House Committee on Capitol Violence has issued a court order targeting Twitter, Meta, Reddit and YouTube.
Committee Chair Benny Thompson on Thursday questioned the companies’ record of their role in disseminating false information about the 2020 elections and promoting extremist violence in their forums ahead of the January 6, 2021 riots.
“Two key questions for the elected committee are how widespread misinformation and extremism have contributed to the violence against our democracy and what steps they have taken – if any – to prevent social media companies from turning their platforms into riots.” Thompson, D. Miss. He said in the letter.
“After months of engagement,” he said, it was “regrettable” that the companies had not been able to voluntarily answer the necessary questions and documents.
In his letter, Thompson described the involvement of Trump’s supporters and right-wing extremists in the massacre.
Alphabet, owned by Alphabet, was the site of a high-profile communication, “related to the siege planning and execution of the capital,” “including live broadcasts during the attack,” the letter said.
The commission alleges that Meta, formerly known as Facebook, used it to exchange hate, violent and provocative messages among users, and to coordinate the “Stop Theft” campaign by spreading misinformation about the rigged 2020 presidential election.
On the radio, the r / The_Donald ” subreddit ‘community has grown exponentially, with investigators believing that before the letter went to the official website, investigators had discussed the plot.
The letter warned Twitter about the planned violence ahead of the attack and how its users had been “exposed to allegations of electoral fraud, including by the former president.”