WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent a letter to Robert Flaherty, former Director of Digital Strategy for the Biden White House, demanding a transcribed interview as part of the Committee's investigation into the role the White House played in colluding with big tech companies and other intermediaries to censor disfavored speech. Publicly available information shows that Flaherty pressured social media companies to remove certain content from their platforms.
The request for a transcribed interview with Robert Flaherty follows a letter to White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients requesting documents and communications regarding social media censorship requests after it was revealed that Flaherty made numerous written demands, which have since been publicized through discovery in a federal court case, to Facebook and Google, ordering the companies to remove content that he believed stoked vaccine hesitancy.
Excerpts of the letter:
"The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of how and the extent to which the Executive Branch has coerced and colluded with tech companies and other intermediaries to censor speech. Whether directly or indirectly, a government-approved or -facilitated censorship regime poses a grave threat to the First Amendment and Americans' civil liberties. Accordingly, as part of the Committee's constitutional oversight obligations, we write to request that you appear for a transcribed interview with the Committee.
"The Committee must gain a greater understanding of the nature and extent of interactions between the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and technology and social media companies, including but not limited to Alphabet, Meta, and Twitter. Documents made public earlier this year demonstrate that in the course of your employment at the White House, you facilitated direct communications between EOP and large social media companies regarding the moderation of content related to topics such as COVID-19 and vaccines. These direct and frequent communications with these companies included instructions and demands to remove certain content, which, in numerous instances, appear to have been followed by the social media companies.
"Due to your personal and direct involvement in the executive branch's efforts to censor or remove certain viewpoints on social media, we believe that you are uniquely situated to advance our oversight and inform potential legislative reforms. Accordingly, we ask that you make yourself available for a transcribed interview with the Committee. Please contact Committee staff as soon as possible but by no later than 5:00 p.m. on July 6, 2023, to schedule your transcribed interview."
Read the full letter to Robert Flaherty here.
Source: House Committee On The Judiciary