Zuckerberg may be held in contempt of US Congress over alleged online censorship

Washington: The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, may be held in contempt of the US Congress over its failure to provide lawmakers with information about possible content censoring practices on social media, Fox New reported, citing sources.
US House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, is seriously considering bringing Zuckerberg to justice for contempt of Congress as early as next week, the broadcaster reported on Monday.
Sources familiar with the situation said that Meta had not provided any internal documents regarding the company’s censorship guidelines.
After the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January, the Jordan-led committee sent Meta a request to testify on internet censorship issues, according to the report.
In May, Jordan warned Meta that the company’s response was insufficient, in violation of a request for internal communications between employees. In particular, the congressman asked for “internal meeting notes or discussions of government statements, requests, referrals, or recommendations related to content moderation, including certain documents commemorating findings and/or recommendations regarding whether to apply enforcement actions to purported disinformation.”
Meta spokesperson told the broadcaster that the company “shared over 50,000 pages” and looks forward “to continuing to work with the committee moving forward.”
A source told the news outlet that none of those 50,000 documents includes internal communications the Judiciary Committee is requesting.
On Monday, Jordan sent a letter to Zuckerberg, requesting he provides 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.
UNI/SPUTNIK