Jack Dorsey faces compelled testimony before the Judiciary Committee, with Twitter's decision to block the New York Post story examined under oath rather than through company statements.
Facebook is pulled into the same proceeding via the Zuckerberg subpoena, so both CEOs must defend content-moderation calls on Capitol Hill in the middle of an election cycle.
Second-order effects
Twitter and Facebook now have a shared incentive to coordinate their defense around Section 230 protections, since the same committees targeting both CEOs are treating moderation decisions as grounds for legislative scrutiny.
Google, already subpoenaed by the Commerce Committee, faces pressure to prepare its own testimony posture as platform-by-platform questioning threatens to become standard treatment for any major moderation controversy.
Third-order effects
If subpoena-first oversight becomes the committee playbook for every contested moderation call, platform CEOs shift from voluntary witnesses to recurring fixtures of congressional hearings — with Section 230 reform as the standing threat backing each summons.
The trend: Congress is moving from letters and complaints to compulsory testimony as its default tool for holding social media platforms accountable over content moderation, with Section 230 as the lever.
Yeah, sure, @Facebook is lot like a supermarket ... except there's only ONE supermarket in town, and they decide who can and can't shop. That's what we call a monopoly https://twitter.com/...
So terrible that Facebook and Twitter took down the story of “Smoking Gun” emails related to Sleepy Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in the @NYPost. It is only the beginning for them. There is nothing worse than a corrupt politician. REPEAL SECTION 230!!! https://www.cnbc.com/...
Facebook/Twitter restricting the New York Post's Hunter Biden story is a mess, so I tried to break down the important pieces of it. https://www.theverge.com/...
Relax. Twitter and Facebook are not the internet, and they're not the government. These are private companies. A little bit like a supermarket asking you to wear a mask. You can just stay out or leave if you don't like it.
Our communication around our actions on the @nypost article was not great. And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why we're blocking: unacceptable. https://twitter.com/...
Sen. @tedcruz: “Twitter is actively blocking, right now this instant, stories from the New York Post...on Tuesday, the Judiciary Committee, the full committee, will be voting on subpoenas to subpoena @Jack Dorsey to come before our committee.” https://twitter.com/...
NEW — U.S. Senator Josh Hawley has formally requested @Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and @Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism in a coming hearing titled “Digital Platforms and Election Interference.” https://twitter.com…
Senate Republicans plan to issue a subpoena to Twitter's chief executive Jack Dorsey over the social media company's blocking of a newspaper article because apparently our elected officials have nothing better to do. https://www.theverge.com/...
And when it was absolutely shown how Facebook's operations led and still lead to election interference, & they were called to task for it, Republicans cried “censorship” about that TOO. Republican motto continues to be “it's only called ‘cheating’ if it doesn't help repubs win.” …
I trust the Senator is aware he wrote this on @twitter, not @facebook? This is the equivalent of complaining about the Kroger monopoly while checking out at Safeway. https://twitter.com/...
Something I find fascinating is when people say something (a) high profile; (b) obviously wrong; (c) lots of people point out in comments that it's wrong; and (d) they don't delete or correct or back down. I'd like to better understand what mental models lead to point (d). https:…
As I told @Varneyco this morning, these dog and pony shows on Capitol Hill are useless: The move by GOP lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee follows the social-media platform's decision to limit sharing of articles relating to the Bidens https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ
The @GOP won't investigate the STORY itself b/c it's a laughable attempt at election interference. Instead they want to investigate those who blocked it on their networks as a “laughable attempt at election interference.” IOW: “It's BS, but it's OUR BS” https://www.wsj.com/...
@SenHawleyPress @Twitter @Facebook Rudy Giuliani should also appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee. @Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg can cite @washingtonpost reporting: “The New York Post said it obtained the material from former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a perso…
GOP lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena @jack over social-media platform's decision to limit sharing of articles relating to the Bidens https://www.wsj.com/...
[Thread] Twitter clarifies why it blocked the sharing of NY Post's Biden story, saying it contained private info and violated its Hacked Materials Policy