House Judiciary Panel Demands Threads' Moderation Policy Docs Amid Censorship Worries

The newly-created social media platform Threads was launched on July 5 as a "nicer" alternative to Twitter. However, it quickly gathered millions of users but the app's moderation policy has angered some users.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (OH-R) sent a letter to Meta* CEO Mark Zuckerberg, requesting information about the company’s new Twitter competitor Threads' content moderation and communications with the US government.

Jordan's primary focus is the suppression of protected speech, particularly at the behest of the executive branch.

“Threads raises serious, specific concerns because it has been marketed as a rival of Elon Musk’s Twitter, which has faced political persecution from the [US President Joe] Biden administration following Musk’s commitment to free speech,” the letter reads, adding the committee is concerned about “censorship by proxy.”

Earlier this month, a federal judge blocked the Biden administration from contacting social media companies. The Justice Department appealed the order and on Friday, 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked the earlier order while recommending the appeal be expedited.

Last year, Zuckerberg admitted on the "Joe Rogan Experience" that his company banned sharing stories related to Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop because the FBI warned them about “Russian propaganda.”

Several large media outlets also discredited the story and more than 50 former intelligence officials signed a letter saying the laptop story “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

The laptop was confirmed to be legitimate and no evidence of Russian influence or otherwise fabricated information from the laptop was ever presented.

“Given that Meta has censored First Amendment-protected speech as a result of government agencies’ requests and demands in the past, the Committee is concerned about potential First Amendment violations that have occurred or will occur on the Threads platform,” Jordan wrote.

Threads, which has already gathered more than 150 million users since its July 5 launch date, has already been accused of censoring users.

“Despite launching only 12 days ago, there are reports Threads is already engaging in censorship, including censoring users but offering no grounds for appeal.”

Jordan says the House Judiciary Committee needs information from Meta about its content moderation to help Congress craft legislation that could limit the executive branch’s ability to suppress free speech.

“To develop effective legislation, such as the possible enactment of new statutory limits on the Executive Branch’s ability to work with technology companies to restrict the circulation of content and deplatform users, the Committee on the Judiciary must first understand how and to what extent the Executive Branch coerced and colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor speech,” the letter reads.

Jordan gave Meta a July 31 deadline to provide the requested information.

*Meta and its associated platforms are banned in Russia for extremist activities.