House lawmakers faced off with several former Twitter executives during a contentious hearing Wednesday regarding accusations that the social media platform censored conservative opinions.
The Oversight and Accountability Committee called the hearing as a means to investigate the Big Tech company’s decision to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story, effectively swaying the presidential election toward one candidate.
The hearing also addressed censorship of COVID-related information, shadow-banning of conservative users, and even allowing Democrats to analyze the company’s alleged role in the spread of information that played a role in the January 6th riot at the Capitol.
The ex-Twitter chiefs – former chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, former deputy general counsel James Baker, former head of trust and safety Yoel Roth, and former executive Anika Collier Navaroli – were consistently on their heels throughout the hearing.
House Oversight and Government Accountability Committee chairman James Comer kicked things off by confronting Roth with a past tweet in which he joked about rural Americans and called Trump administration officials “Nazis.”
Yes, that person in the pink hat is clearly a bigger threat to your brand of feminism than ACTUAL NAZIS IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
— Yoel Roth (@yoyoel) January 22, 2017
RELATED: Twitter Exec in Hunter Biden Scandal Referred to Trump Supporters as Nazis, Attacked Middle America
Confronted Over ‘Trump Supporters Are Nazis’ Tweet
Comer (R-KY) confronted Roth to his face regarding a tweet calling Trump supporters in the White House ‘Nazis.’
“Twitter executives were hostile towards conservatives and biased towards anyone who opposed their points of view. For example, Mr. Roth, did you write this Tweet?” he asked.
Roth replied, “I regret the language that I used in some of my former Tweets, but, yes, I did post that.”
You regret it because it came back to bite you in the ass, Mr. Roth. And even with that regret, it’s revealing of your mindset at the time you were actively censoring the American people.
“Mr. Roth, do you think all conservatives are Nazis?” Comer asked.
“Certainly not, sir,” Roth responded.
Top Oversight Republican James Comer makes Former Twitter head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth PANIC after he pulls out MASSIVE poster with Roth’s tweet calling Trump and his supporters “actual Nazis”
Just watch this. pic.twitter.com/go8xjrlmnQ
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 8, 2023
The sparks kept flying during the hearing on Twitter censorship.
Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado (R) demanded answers on whether or not she had her account shadow-banned by Twitter, a practice that has been confirmed with Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ release, and a practice that was almost exclusively used on conservative accounts.
Both Roth and Gadde denied shadow-banning the congresswoman, as she insisted to the contrary that Twitter staff had informed her she had been shadow-banned for a tweet for 90 days.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” she seethed.
Rep. @laurenboebert wipes the floor with Yoel Roth: “You silenced me from communicating with the American people over a fricken’ joke. Who the hell do you think you are?” pic.twitter.com/46UmTRV7RC
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) February 8, 2023
RELATED: Elon Musk: Twitter Files Prove Censorship Was ‘Enforced Against the Right But Not Against the Left’
Former Twitter Execs Hammered Over Censorship Scandal
There were several other highlights from the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on Twitter censorship practices.
Gadde claimed that “in hindsight,” Twitter should not have censored the Hunter Biden laptop story in the first place but that the company simply didn’t know that doing so would be an attack on free speech.
She’s lying. She knew exactly what they were doing, in real time. https://t.co/KQHOi08WLO
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) February 8, 2023
Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) challenged Gadde to reveal the medical expertise she had in her background that would allow Twitter to suppress pandemic-related information on the platform.
Information from actual medical doctors.
Twitter exec explains the medical training that qualified her to censor Harvard + Stanford MDs who questioned the official COVID narrative. pic.twitter.com/AiBoJx4JBM
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) February 8, 2023
Just an absolutely brutal takedown by Mace.
Mace praised Elon Musk for his ‘Twitter Files’ reveal which allowed the world to see what was happening behind closed doors at the company.
“Thank god for Elon Musk for allowing … to show us and the world that Twitter was basically a subsidiary of the FBI, censoring real medical voices with real expertise that put real Americans’ lives in danger because they didn’t have that information.”
Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL) grilled the Twitter officials on how they took marching orders from the FBI, DOJ, and the Biden campaign.
“Over my right shoulder, we have an email. This is Saturday, October 24th, 5:39 pm, referencing five different Tweets with a Twitter email chain. Under the line it’s, ‘more to review from the Biden team.’ Does anybody have a comment on how much interaction was with the Biden team at Twitter with respect to tweets that they wanted Twitter to review?”
Byron Donalds is a menace.
Fact checks former Twitter executives in real time. pic.twitter.com/PcAcDSNkQh
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 8, 2023
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) slammed the former Twitter executives for banning her account for sharing Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) data about Covid-19 vaccine deaths.
.@RepMTG to Yoel Roth: “You permanently banned my Twitter account but you allowed child porn all over Twitter.” pic.twitter.com/kshgUbXD8x
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 8, 2023
None of these revelations matter unless House Republicans actually take some sort of action to hold former officials with Twitter accountable for engaging in the third-world-level censorship of the American people.
“You did this because you were terrified of Joe Biden not winning the election in 2020, that’s what it appeared,” Comer alleged. “I can assure you this committee will succeed in holding the Biden’s accountable.”
That remains to be seen.
Former President Donald Trump celebrated the hearings in a post on his Truth Social media platform.
“Congratulations to … all of the Great Republican Patriots on the House Oversight Committee. What an important and incredible job you are doing,” he wrote.
“The SleazeBags that Rigged and Stole the 2020 Presidential Election are being ripped apart.”
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