Big tech CEOs received harsh criticism from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) during a Capitol Hill hearing on Wednesday accusing them of targeting conservative content.
Jordan did not waste any time during the hearing and directed his message at Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Sundar Pichai of Google.
“I’ll just cut to the chase. Big tech’s out to get conservatives,” Jordan said. “That’s not a suspicion, that’s not a hunch, that’s a fact.”
Jordan went on to list a number of occasions where these tech empires censored conservative voices.
Watch his comments below:
Big tech’s out to get conservatives. It’s time they face the consequences. pic.twitter.com/jfPRPL1rZ1
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 29, 2020
The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee said Google removed the home pages of conservative publications including Breitbart News and The Daily Caller and threatened to demonetize and ban The Federalist.
Jordan claimed Google and YouTube announced a policy censoring content contradicting recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO).
He argued the WHO “lied” to the United States and “shilled” for China.
Jordan noted President Donald Trump’s Twitch account was banned by Amazon after he challenged arguments to defund the police.
According to Jordan, big tech has additionally banned books, prohibited donations to certain organizations, and silenced advertisements.
Jordan said Republicans wanted to invite the head of the popular social media platform Twitter, but he signaled the committee “said no.”
Jordan provided examples of how Twitter has allegedly censored Trump.
Twitter reportedly censored Trump’s tweet on the riots in Minneapolis along with the White House for quoting the president’s comments about the riots.
Jordan suggested the social media giant also censored Trump’s tweet saying he will “enforce the rule of law against any autonomous zone in Washington D.C.”
He expressed his concern with these examples as they arise during an election year.
“We all think the free market’s great, we think competition’s great, we love the fact that these are American companies, but what’s not great is censoring people, censoring conservatives and trying to impact elections,” Jordan said.
He added, “And if it doesn’t end, there has to be consequences, there have to be consequences.”