The Jan. 6th Select Committee established by Democrats to investigate the Jan. 6 riot recently demanded Big Tech provide information about private Americans and politicians.
The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has demanded that Big Tech help the government spy on the private information of American citizens. “Today, Chairman Bennie G. Thompson [D-MS] announced that the Jan. 6th Select Committee is demanding records related to the January 6th violent attack on the U.S. Capitol from 15 social media companies,” the House reported in an August 27 press release.
It added: “In letters to the companies, Chairman Thompson seeks information including records related to the spread of misinformation, efforts to overturn the 2020 election or prevent the certification of the results, domestic violent extremism, and foreign influence in the 2020 election.”
Thompson clarified the dystopian nature of the inquiry:
The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is examining the facts, circumstances, and causes of the attack and relating to the peaceful transfer of power, in order to identify and evaluate lessons learned and to recommend corrective laws, policies, procedures, rules, or regulations.
The press release illustrated further that the letters sent to Big Tech “seek a range of records, including data, reports, analyses, and communications stretching back to spring of 2020.”
The press release also illuminated the fact that the Jan. 6th Select Committee is asking about “policy changes social media companies adopted—or failed to adopt” in order to address alleged “false information, violent extremism, and foreign malign influence, including decisions on banning material from platforms and contacts with law enforcement and other government entities.”
The potential alliance between the United States government and private companies to spy on Americans has reportedly stoked skepticism across the country.
Big Tech is overdue for a reckoning in favor of free speech. Philanthropy Roundtable board member Vivek Ramaswamy insisted in an interview that Big Tech censorship violates the U.S. Constitution. After acknowledging that private companies are typically free to decide what appears on their own websites, Ramaswamy explained that this is not an ordinary situation:
[I]t’s different when private companies coordinate directly with the government, respond to government threats, and are cloaked with the benefit of government provided immunity to do indirectly through the backdoor what the government cannot directly do under the Constitution.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your local representative and demand that Big Tech mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
