House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has issued subpoenas to major tech companies—including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Rumble, TikTok, and X Corp.—demanding records of their communications with foreign governments regarding compliance with censorship laws, regulations, and judicial orders.
American companies have raised concerns about how foreign censorship efforts impact U.S. civil liberties. X has resisted judicial orders in Brazil and Australia that mandate global content takedowns, while Meta has stressed the need to “push back on governments around the world, going after American companies and pushing to censor more,” noting that such resistance requires “the support of the U.S. government.”
The committee seeks to understand how foreign governments have restricted Americans’ access to lawful speech and whether the Biden-Harris administration has played a role in facilitating these efforts.
According to Jordan, the subpoenas are necessary to ensure companies can disclose relevant documents without interference from foreign authorities.
