House Judiciary Committee questions Zuckerberg on potential censorship on Threads

The House Judiciary Committee on Monday sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking questions about possible censorship occurring on Threads, Meta's latest social media platform.

"Given that Meta has censored First Amendment-protected speech as a result of government agencies’ requests and demands in the past, the Committee is concerned about potential First Amendment violations that have occurred or will occur on the Threads platform," Committee chairman Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, wrote in the letter.

"Indeed, Threads raises serious, specific concerns because it has been marketed as rival of Elon Musk’s Twitter, which has faced political persecution from the Biden Administration following Musk’s commitment to free speech," he also wrote, referring to the House Weaponization of the Federal Government Subcommittee's March report that found the Federal Trade Commission is aggressively harassing Twitter.

The Republican-led committee subpoenaed Zuckerberg in February for documents related to content moderation and Meta's conversation with the executive branch, and since then, Jordan said he has received more evidence showing that the federal government has colluded with social media companies to moderate online content.

Threads already has more than 100 million users after launching earlier this month, according to Zuckerberg. 

However, there are already reports that the app is censoring users and labeling conservatives for posting what it deems false information without offering an appeal process. 

Fox Business subsequently reported that the committee is mulling a move to hold Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress, which could come as soon as next week. Just the News has independently confirmed the committee is weighing that option.

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.