Social media companies hit with Jan 6 subpoenas; panel seeking role of disinformation in Capitol attack

Four social media companies were hit with subpoenas Thursday from the special House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks, as the panel weighs how a campaign of disinformation helped ignite the Capitol siege.

The actions taken against Alphabet, Meta, Reddit and Twitter represent yet another escalation of the committee's inquiry, after a flurry of activity in recent days including a call for the cooperation of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

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Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the formal demands on the companies were necessary because of "inadequate responses to prior requests for information."

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“Two key questions for the Select Committee are how the spread of misinformation and violent extremism contributed to the violent attack on our democracy, and what steps—if any—social media companies took to prevent their platforms from being breeding grounds for radicalizing people to violence," Thompson said. "It’s disappointing that after months of engagement, we still do not have the documents and information necessary to answer those basic questions."

In its disclosure Thursday, the committee referred to Alphabet's YouTube as ultimately "relevant to the planning and execution of January 6th attack... including livestreams of the attack as it was taking place."

"The Select Committee believes Alphabet has significant undisclosed information that is critical to its investigation, concerning how Alphabet developed, implemented, and reviewed its content moderation, algorithmic promotion, demonetization, and other policies that may have affected the January 6, 2021 events," the committee said in its letter to the company.

Meta, which owns Facebook, was used to "to share messages of hatred, violence, and incitement; to spread misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories around the election; and to coordinate or attempt to coordinate the Stop the Steal movement," the committee said.

"Public accounts about Facebook’s Civic Integrity Team indicate that Facebook has documents that are critical to the Select Committee’s investigation."

The Reddit platform, the committee said, hosted a growing community of Trump followers on the discussion group “r/The_Donald” before it was shutdown in 2020. The group later migrated to the website TheDonald.win, which featured "significant discussion and planning related to the January 6th attack," the committee said.

The committee said Twitter subscribers also engaged in communications related to the planning and execution of the Capitol assault and the company was "reportedly warned about potential violence being planned on the site in advance of January 6th."

Alphabet, the Google parent company that runs YouTube, said it is committed to working with Congress.

"We’ve been actively cooperating with the Select Committee since they started their investigation, responding substantively to their requests for documents," Alphabet said in a statement.

Meta said Facebook has produced documents for the committee "on a schedule committee staff requested."

"We will continue to do so," the company said.

Reddit acknowledged receiving the demand and pledged to "work with the committee on their requests." Twitter declined to comment.

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The subpoenas highlight the central role social media platforms played on Jan. 6 when a rally over former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud led to the storming of the Capitol.

Facebook, owned by Meta, has been criticized for allowing election fraud misinformation and conspiracy theories to spread and extremist groups to organize in the run-up to the deadly attack. 

Internal documents made public by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen showed the company dismantled election safeguards prior to Jan. 6.

“We are in the process of negotiating with Facebook and those other platforms to get certain information,” Thompson said on “Face the Nation” in October. “But it's clear that the Jan. 6 organization, per se, used them as an organizing tool.”