The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to subpoena Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey after the two social media platforms blocked a story about potential corruption involving Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said Thursday he was voting to subpoena the two in order to secure their testimony before the committee.
Republicans want to hear testimony before the Nov. 3 election.
A week ago, Republicans announced their intention to subpoena Twitter after it blocked the New York Post story about emails and other content allegedly obtained from several laptops belonging to Biden’s son Hunter.
The New York Post reported that Hunter Biden set up a meeting between an official from the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, which was paying him a hefty salary, and his father while the elder Biden was vice president, citing an email.
Biden’s campaign has denied that such a meeting took place based on “Biden’s official schedules from the time” but has otherwise not denied the authenticity of the content of the email.
So far, neither the Biden campaign nor Hunter Biden has denied any other element of the emails story, though the elder Biden has called it part of a “smear campaign.” The FBI is reportedly investigating if the Hunter Biden email stories are tied to a Russian disinformation effort.
Twitter and Facebook said they banned the content because the material was hacked or unverified.
Facebook Communications Director Andy Stone said the story required “fact checking” and reduced its visibility “to reduce the spread of misinformation.”
Stone is a former high-ranking Democratic operative who served as communications director for Sen. Barbara Boxer of California and as a communications director for the Senate’s Democratic political and fundraising arm.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, sent a letter last week inviting Zuckerberg to testify, before Republicans added him to the subpoena vote Thursday.
“This hearing will consider potential campaign law violations arising from your company’s decision, on October 14, 2020, to support the presidential campaign of Joe Biden by suppressing the distribution of a New York Post article entitled ‘Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad,’” Hawley wrote to Zuckerberg.
