Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
House Republicans led by Kentucky Rep. James Comer have wasted little time in seeking help from new Twitter head Elon Musk in discovering just how much effort the social media company expended in censoring discussion of Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020.
Comer, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, has asked Musk to share company records that indicate precisely what Twitter’s Hunter Biden laptop policy was and to what extent the story was prevented from circulating.
“@GOPoversight is reviewing the role Big Tech played in supporting the Biden campaign by suppressing certain stories,” Comer tweeted late last month. “I’m now calling on @elonmusk to provide all docs and communications from @Twitter.”
🚨🚨🚨@GOPoversight is reviewing the role Big Tech played in supporting the Biden campaign by suppressing certain stories.
I'm now calling on @elonmusk to provide all docs and communications from @Twitter related to the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020.👇 pic.twitter.com/njYMoFSE1K
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) October 28, 2022
It remains unclear if Musk will acquiesce to the request, but he has indicated in the past that he did not agree with Twitter’s tactics, which included suspending the New York Post for having broken the story in October 2020.
“Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate,” Musk tweeted in April.
Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022
Republicans have never been pleased with the decidedly left-friendly way that all major U.S. tech companies operate, but the Biden laptop story — which was clearly meant as the October surprise of the 2020 cycle — was dismissed out of hand and labeled misinformation by both social media and traditional media companies.
Conservative frustrations have only grown in recent days when the Intercept, a decidedly left-leaning publication, reported that leaked documents suggest the FBI and Homeland Security have worked in conjunction with big tech companies for years to shape policy discussion online.
And people on the right, as well as the New York Post, have still not forgotten DHS’s now-abandoned disinformation board.
“There is nothing more ‘dangerous’ than a government monitoring and shaping what its citizens say in public forums,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) tweeted. “This report is just another example of the Biden Regime’s desire to turn our great nation into a police state.”
There is nothing more ‘dangerous’ than a government monitoring and shaping what its citizens say in public forums.
This report is just another example of the Biden Regime’s desire to turn our great nation into a police state.https://t.co/8zjycU7OYS
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) November 2, 2022
As of this writing, the House Oversight Democrats have been quiet on the matter of Twitter censorship, and big tech censorship broadly.
If anything, Democrats have become more concerned with censoring what they deem as misinformation or disinformation in the wake of Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar last week indicated during an appearance on NBC that she did not trust Musk to police “election-denying hate speech” and called for more accountability from Twitter in combating misinformation.
Musk has repeatedly erred on the side of free speech and has stated he opposes censoring opinions or speech in a way that goes “far beyond the law.” He has also announced the creation of a content moderation board, but it is unclear how this will function.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that conservative and contrarian opinions are at least allowable on Twitter.