Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday, Jan. 14, an investigation into the content review policies of five big Silicon Valley tech companies after President Trump (Trump) was permanently blocked by tech giants like Twitter last week.
Paxton’s office requested information from the five tech giants – Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Amazon and Google – about their censorship of conservative speech and their joint efforts to suppress conservative social media outlet Parler.
He tweeted, “Big news: I launched an investigation today into Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Apple to investigate their policies and enforcement of content censorship and information related to Parler. It (Paller) is a discontinued or blocked social media App.”
In a press release Thursday, Paxton said, “For years, these large technology companies have been clamping down on other voices and shutting down rival companies and platforms in the social media space.” “In recent months, the situation has gotten worse. Just last week, this discriminatory action included the unprecedented step of removing President Trump from online media platforms.”
He criticized the decisions of companies such as Twitter and questioned whether the suppression of conservative speech by these large technology companies may have violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Paxton said, “First Amendment rights and transparency must be upheld in order for free online communities to function and thrive. Yet, the voice of the president of the United States is being silenced in a seemingly concerted manner (by these companies). The action of completely silencing those whose speech and political beliefs are at odds with the leaders of big tech companies not only chills free speech, but has every American worried about its impact on the future of free speech in America.”
He said he intends to use the civil investigation requirement, a legal evidentiary tool, to force the tech giants to produce policy documents outlining their official content-regulated speech so that the state can determine whether their actions discriminate.
Paxton added, “The public has a right to know how these companies are censoring and eliminating speech with which they disagree. I hope these companies will put the partisanship aside and cooperate with this (civil investigation request) to eliminate the root cause of the dispute and ensure a truly free online community for the people that is consistent with the highest American ideals.”
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