“Because you guys have come today to try to prove that the Biden administration in coordination with Twitter is impugning free speech and the problem is that Donald Trump - he is just this thing that hangs around your neck - because at every turn he undermines whatever credibility you want to have on this subject.”Īnd Rep. “I’m beginning to feel a little bad for the majority,” said Rep. Some Democrats were downright gleeful during the hearing, accusing the GOP of hypocrisy since the Trump White House had previously requested Twitter remove a September 2019 tweet from celebrity Chrissy Teigen in which she called him unsavory names. For example, Roth described the deeply pernicious efforts by Russia to interfere in American elections that had drawn bipartisan concern and condemnation in recent election cycles. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).Ĭounter to Republican claims about big tech’s anti-conservative bent, the three witnesses described multiple one-off judgements that frequently angered both sides of the aisle. “From the hearing I’ve been at today, it’s almost impossible to tell where the FBI ends and where Twitter begins,” said Rep. Some Republicans argued that Baker joining of the company was evidence of collusion between Twitter and the FBI. safety policy team member Anika Collier Navaroli.īaker added that he was not aware of “unlawful collusion with, or direction from, any government agency or political campaign on how Twitter should have handled the Hunter Biden laptop situation.” From left, former Twitter general counsel James Baker, former Twitter chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, former Twitter global head of trust and safety Yoel Roth, and former Twitter U.S. Witnesses during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on social-media bias on Capitol Hill Feb. 6 and the platform’s handling of extremist rhetoric and misinformation. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who was named as the vice ranker for the panel, accused Republicans of trying to co-opt an entire social media platform and use the power of this committee and of Congress in order to pursue a political agenda.”ĭemocrats had their own questions for the ex-Twitter employees, however, asking about the company’s decisions regarding former President Donald Trump’s tweets in the lead up to the Capitol attack on Jan. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the committee. Silly does not begin to describe this obsession,” said Rep. “Instead of letting this trivial pursuit go, my Republican colleagues have tried to whip up a faux-scandal about this two-day lapse in their ability to spread Hunter Biden propaganda on a private media platform. Rather, they’ve continued to point to the decision as an example of what they see as a social media company attempting to silence conservatives in favor of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign - sparking accusations from Democrats on Wednesday that the GOP was improperly using their power to fixate on a two-year-old event. Twitter officials admitting the company made the wrong call has not satisfied Republicans’ calls for accountability. House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) declares the committee to be in recess due to a power outage that interrupted a hearing on social-media bias on Capitol Hill Feb.
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