Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., Twitter Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and Reddit Inc. are being subpoenaed to turn over posts, videos and other material to the House committee investigating the Jan 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the panel’s chairman announced Thursday.
"Two key questions for the Select Committee are how the spread of misinformation and violent extremism contributed to the violent attack on our democracy, and what steps-if any-social media companies took to prevent their platforms from being breeding grounds for radicalising people to violence,” Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said in a statement.
Twitter declined to comment and a spokesperson for Reddit said the company would continue to work with the committee on its requests. Among other lines of inquiry, the panel is seeking information on how some of the companies dealt with Trump. The committee said Meta platforms were reportedly used to spread misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories around the election and to coordinate or attempt to coordinate the Stop the Steal movement.