Alphabet, CEO Sundar Pichai get House GOP subpoena on alleged censorship

By Emily Birnbaum

  The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Alphabet Inc. and its CEO Sundar Pichai as part of its ongoing investigation into the biggest tech companies’ relationships with the Biden administration. 

The subpoena, issued Thursday, specifically seeks documents related to communications either the company or Pichai had with the previous administration, which Republicans have alleged amounted to an effort to censor Americans’ speech. 

 

The committee has asked for the documents by March 28, according to a copy of the subpoena the panel released on Thursday. They’re specifically looking for information “referring or relating to the moderation, deletion, suppression, restriction, or reduced circulation of content,” the subpoena states. 

José Castañeda, a Google spokesperson, said the company will “continue to show the committee how we enforce our policies independently, rooted in our commitment to free expression.”

 

Documents obtained and published by the Judiciary panel last year showed the Biden administration pushed companies, including Meta Platforms Inc., to take down certain online posts related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Biden administration officials said those posts contained dangerous misinformation, but Republicans have argued it was an attempt to censor conservatives’ speech. 

 

The committee is seeking communications between YouTube and Google, subsidiaries of Alphabet, and the Biden administration as well as relevant internal conversations. 

 

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said in a letter the communications are necessary “to develop effective legislation, such as the possible enactment of new statutory limits on the executive branch’s ability to work with Big Tech to restrict the circulation of content and deplatform users.” 

 

Pichai was one of the major tech company CEOs who attended Donald Trump’s inauguration. Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook and Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg also sat on the dais with Trump that day, raising questions about whether conservatives were warming to the tech executives after years of antagonism. 

 

The House Judiciary Committee subpoena shows Republicans still intend to pursue oversight of the tech companies, particularly on the topic of conservative speech. The committee last week also sent subpoenas to Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft Corp., X Corp. and others to gather information about their communications with foreign governments.