Rep. Jim Jordan calls on Twitter to hand over documents pertaining its decision to crack down on Trump's tweets
The Ohio congressman accused the tech giant of exerting 'editorial control' over prominent conservatives and not prominent liberals.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is calling on Twitter to release documents pertaining to its recent crackdown on President Trump's tweets.
In a letter obtained by Fox News that was sent to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Wednesday, Jordan accused the tech giant of increasingly exerting "editorial control" over prominent conservatives, including the president, and how it "has not taken similar actions" with prominent liberals, which the congressman says questioned whether Twitter "is not moderating user content in a viewpoint-neutral manner."
Jordan pointed to the "fact-check" label Twitter added to Trump's May 26 tweet sounding the alarm of potential mail-in voter fraud in California as well as the "abusive behavior" label added to Trump's June 23 tweet threatening "serious force" to any autonomous zone established in Washington D.C., something Twitter insisted violated its policies.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"While Twitter has sought to silence conservative voices, including the President of the United States, on its platform, Twitter has allowed violent extremists to use its platform with apparent impunity," Jordan wrote before citing tweets made by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. "Twitter’s discrimination against conservative voices is extremely alarming. These actions give rise to concerns that the company is systematically engaged in the disparate treatment of political speech and is deceiving users of the platform by not uniformly applying its terms of service."
The Judiciary Committee ranking member requested information from the tech giant pertaining "all content moderation decisions made by Twitter over the past year for users located within the United States, including which Twitter rule or policy the user allegedly violated and the content of the moderated tweet" as well as "all documents and communications" regarding Twitter's decision to add the "fact-check" and the "abusive behavior" labels to Trump's tweets.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Please provide this information as soon as possible but no later than 5:00 p.m. on July 22, 2020," Jordan requested. "In addition, we ask that Twitter provide a briefing to the Committee on these matters as well as its recently adopted disinformation policies and tools and how Twitter makes content moderation decisions upon production of the documents and information requested above."
Twitter confirmed to Fox News that it received the letter from Jordan but declined to comment.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jordan also sent a letter to John Matze, the CEO of Parler, a competing social media platform that has seen a recent surge in users as conservatives have flocked to the tech company in hopes of having more freedom to express themselves.
"As the Committee continues to evaluate the size, competitiveness, and role of social media companies in our society, the perspective of Parler would significantly inform and advance the Committee’s work," the GOP representative wrote.