House Judiciary Committee subpoenas tech platforms over foreign censorship of Americans

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan sent subpoenas to the executives of eight major tech companies this week, seeking information on foreign governments’ efforts to censor Americans online.

The Ohio Republican issued subpoenas to Alphabet, Google parent company, as well as Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Rumble, TikTok and X seeking details on each platform’s efforts to comply with foreign laws.

“To develop effective legislation, including new laws protecting American speech from the effect of foreign governments’ censorship laws and judicial orders, the Committee must first understand how and to what extent foreign laws, regulations and judicial orders have limited Americans’ access to lawful speech in the United States, as well as the extent to which the Biden-Harris administration aided or abetted these efforts,” Mr. Jordan wrote in the letters.

The demands for information come as the Judiciary Committee said it is seeing U.S. companies increasingly sounding alarms about foreign censorship that infringes on Americans’ civil liberties.

Mr. Jordan’s letters noted that X has pushed back against judicial orders from Australia and Brazil to take down content on its site, while Meta has expressed similar concerns.

The letters said Mr. Jordan’s decision to issue a subpoena stemmed “from a fundamental disagreement between the United States Congress and certain foreign governments regarding Americans’ right to free expression online.”

Mr. Jordan said the foreign targets of congressional scrutiny include the European Union, U.K., Canada, Australia and Brazil.

Alongside these nations’ laws and public skirmishes between government officials from these countries with the companies, Mr. Jordan wrote he had evidence not yet made public that the EU’s rules are already affecting business.

Rumble, a video-sharing app, said it is ready to cooperate with the House panel.

“Rumble has received the subpoena and we look forward to sharing information related to the ongoing efforts of numerous governments around the globe who seek to suppress the innate human right to self-expression,” said Rumble spokesman Tim Murtaugh in a statement.

Microsoft told The Washington Times it is engaged with the committee and “committed to working in good faith.”

The other subpoenaed companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.