US House Panel to Vote Thursday on Holding Zuckerberg in Contempt of Congress

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US House Judiciary Committee will vote on July 27 over holding Meta* CEO Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with its subpoena, the panel said on Tuesday.

Earlier this year, the committee requested information from Meta and other tech companies about their content moderation policies as part of a broader probe by lawmakers into the alleged weaponization of the federal government and collusion with tech companies to censor speech.

"The House Judiciary Committee will hold a markup on Thursday, July 27, 2023, at 2 p.m.," the committee said. "Legislation to be considered includes: Report Recommending that the House of Representatives Cite Mark Zuckerberg for Contempt of Congress."

US media reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Meta has not provided internal communications regarding the company’s censorship efforts.

The report also quoted a Meta spokesperson, who said last week that the company provided lawmakers with over 50,000 pages of documents requested by the committee. He also noted that nearly a dozen current and former company personnel are ready to discuss external and internal issues.

In May, the committee’s chairman Jim Jordan warned Meta that the company's response was insufficient and in violation of a request for internal communications between employees.

Earlier in July, Jordan sent a letter to Zuckerberg, requesting information related to Meta’s new social media platform Threads, "given that Meta has censored First Amendment-protected speech as a result of government agencies’ request and demands in the past."

Jordan’s letter comes amid an investigation by the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which he chairs, into the US government’s purported misuse of power to target political opponents and suppress disfavored speech online.

*Meta is banned in Russia as an extremist organization