House passes bill against influencing Twitter, Facebook in response to Hunter Biden story
- Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has argued his will would prevent government censorship on social media.
- Democrats contend Twitter and Facebook are private companies that decide what to publish.
WASHINGTON – The House voted Thursday to approve legislation aiming to prohibit federal agency employees from trying to influence social media companies to suppress or restrict or add disclaimers to lawful commentary.
The vote was 219-206, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., proposed the legislation in response to Twitter briefly blocking links to a New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“The federal government should not be able to decide what lawful speech is allowed – we have the First Amendment for a very good reason,” Comer said.
But Democrats said there was no evidence at a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing in February with former Twitter executives that FBI agents or others in the government had any role in the platform’s decision to block links to the laptop story.
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Here’s what we know about the bill:
What were House arguments about federal influence on social media?
Republicans argued that social media companies should carry any lawful speech, even if commentary is contentious about issues such as treatments for disease or results of an election. But Democrats said the bill wasn’t needed and quoted former Twitter officials saying the FBI hadn’t urged suppression of the laptop story.
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Why are Republicans focusing on social media?
House Republicans have focused their investigative spotlight on social media platforms because of concerns they stifle conservative voices.
Other panels have probed the suppression of allegations about 2020 election fraud and COVID-19 origins and treatments. Twitter and Facebook each banned former President Donald Trump after the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, but each have since restored his access.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, subpoenaed top executives from five companies – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Meta – to ask about the alleged suppression of conservatives. Jordan seeks information about whether the FBI or other agencies urged private companies such as Twitter, Facebook and Google’s YouTube to steer users away from conservative content or drop conservative users.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved legislation allowing the president to ban TikTok because of concerns the Chinese app could be gathering intelligence on U.S. users.