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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a conspiratorial letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, pushing unfounded allegations that the social media giant has been involved in government-led censorship.
The letter, sent in Jordan's capacity as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, focuses heavily on Meta’s debut of Threads, a new social media platform seen as a competitor to Twitter. Jordan has used his committee to wage a monthslong, fruitless campaign meant to expose the federal government's pressure campaign against social media platforms to silence and censor conservatives.
There's no evidence to suggest the Biden administration has engaged in any such campaign. Federal officials wield no authority over how private social media companies moderate their platforms to remove hate speech and disinformation. (There's certainly no shortage of conservatives pushing such content on their own social media accounts.)
Nonetheless, Jordan has seemingly become Musk's attack dog — better yet, lap dog — in Congress.
Republicans have tried to frame the Biden administration’s research on disinformation — which has helped social media platforms better understand the spread of fake news — as nefarious and “censorship by proxy.” Twitter CEO Elon Musk, beloved by right-wing extremists looking to spread hate and disinformation freely online, has helped spread these conspiracy theories.
For background on Monday's letter, Jordan’s committee in February subpoenaed several Big Tech CEOs — including Zuckerberg but oddly excluding Musk — for documents related to their platforms’ content moderation practices. His letter to Zuckerberg on Monday says documents related to Threads should be handed over, as well. The letter, without evidence, accuses Meta of “censor[ing] First Amendment-protected speech as a result of government agencies’ requests and demands in the past” and claims “the Committee is concerned about potential First Amendment violations that have occurred or will occur on the Threads platform.”
For evidence of a purported First Amendment violation, the letter cites a conservative blog about Threads allegedly restricting the account of a far-right social media user known to spread disinformation. But even the writer behind the blog acknowledges social platforms are free to moderate as they wish (in other words, not a First Amendment violation). What is clear from both the blog post and Jordan’s letter is a disdain for Twitter's competitors.
“Indeed, Threads raises serious, specific concerns because it has been marketed as rival of Elon Musk’s Twitter, which has faced political persecution from the Biden Administration following Musk’s commitment to free speech,” the letter reads.
(Remember, this is the same committee that touted Musk, Kanye West and Donald Trump as the triumvirate of conservative leaders.)
Musk — a predictable Threads critic — is not committed to free speech, though. Several outlets have reported on his compliance with foreign, authoritarian regimes looking to quash dissent on his platform; he’s been known to censor journalists who belong to organizations he's criticized; and he announced in June that the words “cis” and “cisgender” are officially considered slurs on the platform — meaning using them could lead to suspension.
Nonetheless, Jordan has seemingly become Musk's attack dog — better yet, lap dog — in Congress. And that apparently means nipping at every other social media network for purported censorship while the Blue Bird’s CEO gets off scot-free.