**House Judiciary Committee Threatens to Hold Mark Zuckerberg in Contempt of Congress for Failure to Provide Documents**
The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan, has expressed his intention to hold Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress. This action is in response to Zuckerberg’s failure to provide documents related to an investigation into alleged censorship by tech companies of conservative voices.
**Failure to Comply with Subpoena Leads to Contempt Vote**
Rep. Jordan revealed that the Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing in which a contempt report will be voted on. The report will outline Zuckerberg’s willful refusal to comply with a subpoena issued in February. It is expected that the measure will pass the GOP-controlled committee without issue. After the August recess, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will have the authority to hold a full House vote on the contempt resolution, potentially as early as this fall.
**Potential Prosecution by the Justice Department**
Should the House decide to hold Zuckerberg in contempt, the decision to prosecute will rest with the Justice Department. The outcome of this potential legal action remains uncertain.
**Meta Claims Cooperation with Committee’s Requests for Information**
Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta, stated that the company has already provided over 50,000 pages of internal and external documents to the committee since February. Furthermore, Meta has made current and former employees available for interviews with lawmakers. Stone emphasized that Meta has been operating in good faith, complying with the committee’s extensive information requests.
**Republicans Seek Investigation into Tech Companies’ Content Moderation**
In January, Rep. Jordan and other Republicans issued subpoenas to the CEOs of five major tech companies, including Zuckerberg. This action was prompted by the Republicans’ desire to fulfill their campaign promise of investigating the content moderation practices of Big Tech, particularly in relation to COVID-19. The subpoenas were also sent to Sundar Pichai of Alphabet, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Tim Cook of Apple, and Andy Jassy of Amazon.com. The CEOs were requested to provide any documents pertaining to what the Republicans claim to be widespread corporate censorship of conservative voices.
**Meta Targeted Specifically by Rep. Jordan**
Rep. Jordan has specifically targeted Meta with pressure, even sending a letter to Zuckerberg last week. In the letter, Jordan requested Meta to produce a new set of documents regarding content moderation on its new app, Threads, which is intended to be a competitor to Twitter.
**Twitter Absent from Subpoenas**
Notably, Twitter was not included in the list of companies subpoenaed by Rep. Jordan and the Judiciary Committee. This may be attributed to Tesla founder Elon Musk, who has shown more sympathy toward conservatives than Twitter’s previous management. Republicans in Congress have been supportive of Musk, as evidenced by hearings held earlier this year with former Twitter executives. During these hearings, GOP lawmakers questioned the executives regarding Twitter’s decision to initially block a New York Post article about the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop in October 2020.
In conclusion, the House Judiciary Committee’s threat to hold Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress for failing to provide documents adds a new chapter to the ongoing investigation into alleged conservative censorship by tech companies. Meta’s cooperation thus far has been highlighted, while the potential consequences for Zuckerberg and the involvement of the Justice Department remain uncertain.
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