Jim Jordan Demands Social Media Documents from Biden Administration

WASHINGTON, February 8, 2023 — House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Wednesday asked the Department of Justice to provide copies of all documents that have been produced in an ongoing lawsuit over alleged government collusion with social media companies.

“Congress has an important interest in protecting and advancing fundamental free speech principles, including by examining how the Executive Branch coordinates with or coerces private actors to suppress First Amendment-protected speech,” Jordan wrote in a letter to Brian Boynton, the principal deputy assistant attorney general in the civil division.

The attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana filed suit against President Joe Biden and other government officials in May 2022, claiming that the administration had worked with tech companies to “censor free speech and propagandize the masses.”

Other officials named in the lawsuit include former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and former Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci. The suit also names the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among other individuals and agencies.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey in January released a series of emails between White House officials and social media companies, arguing that they proved the Biden administration had been attempting to “censor opposing viewpoints on major social media platforms.”

Jordan requested that all other documents produced by the Department of Justice as part of the litigation be provided to the Judiciary Committee no later than Feb. 22.

“As Congress continues to examine how to best protect Americans’ fundamental freedoms, the documents discovered and produced during the Missouri v. Biden litigation are necessary to assist Congress in understanding the problem and evaluating potential legislative reforms,” he wrote.

Jordan is at the forefront of growing Republican hostility toward tech companies. In January, he listed “reining in Big Tech’s censorship of free speech” as a key issue to be addressed by the House Judiciary Committee during the coming year.

And in December, Jordan sent letters to the heads of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft to “request more information about the nature and extent of your companies’ collusion with the Biden Administration.”