|
Listen To This Story
 |
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) views himself as a champion of free speech who protects the common man against online censorship.
On Tuesday, Rep. Jerry Nadler (NY), the committee’s ranking Democrat, gave him an opportunity to do just that.
In a letter to Jordan, Nadler asked his chairman to open an investigation into the online platform X, which is owned by pro-GOP billionaire Elon Musk.
According to the Democrat, different users have had trouble following Vice President Kamala Harris’s account since it has become clear that she will likely be her party’s presidential nominee and take on Donald Trump.
“Alarmingly, numerous users on X have reported that when they try to follow @KamalaHQ, they receive a ‘Limit reached’ error message, stating that the user is ‘unable to follow more people at this time,’ Nadler wrote.
He provided Jordan with various screenshots from users who reported this issue.
Anyone else getting this error message when trying to following the Harris campaign’s new rapid response account, @KamalaHQ?
No clear reason why I would be getting this and I am still able to follow other accounts.
Anyone at @X care to explain? pic.twitter.com/RthNmEbddQ
— Steven Overly (@StevenOverly) July 22, 2024
Tried to follow the @KamalaHQ account & X gave me the below message & blocked me from following:
Bizarre. I follow under 1,000 people. pic.twitter.com/PY85vdeIIi
— Alyssa Farah Griffin (@Alyssafarah) July 22, 2024
Nadler argued that these error messages do not make sense to him because these users were able to follow other accounts.
“This suggests that X may be intentionally throttling or blocking Vice President Harris’ ability to communicate with potential voters,” Nadler wrote. “If true, such action would amount to egregious censorship based on political and viewpoint discrimination — issues that this Committee clearly has taken very seriously.”
The Democrat then quotes Jordan’s own words, noting that his chairman has in the past lamented in the past that “Big Tech” is silencing “prominent voices,” and that Musk has made similar statements.
Nadler then asked Jordan to open an investigation that gets to the bottom of this issue.
Specifically, he said that probe should demand information from X on how many users were affected, what actions have been taken to fix the problem, and whether Musk “was personally involved in directing, encouraging, or coercing any employee at X to throttle or limit any user from joining @KamalaHQ.”
Musk has endorsed Donald Trump and pledged to donate nearly $200 million to him from now until the election.
In light of the billionaire’s political engagement, Nadler urged Jordan to apply his previous standards to this situation.
“It is my sincere hope that you channel the same outrage and pertinacity against platform censorship of the Democratic party as you do when conservative speech is allegedly suppressed,” Nadler stated. “With little time remaining in this Congress, I am hopeful that the Committee may find ways to put partisan politics aside and work on serious issues like this, which impact the ability for voters and candidates to engage in a free and fair exchange of information and viewpoints — critical elements to a functioning democracy.”
