House Republicans have included Facebook’s parent company, Meta, in their investigation into online search platforms in relation to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Their main concern is the potential pressure exerted by government agencies on tech companies to suppress information about the shooting that occurred on July 13.
Both Meta and Google faced scrutiny following the incident when users noticed irregularities in how their platforms responded to the event.
While Google’s associated queries omitted mentions of Trump and instead showed news articles about Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, Meta’s AI chatbot claimed that the assassination attempt was a fictional event, according to the letter.
In early August, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sought an explanation from Google regarding the errors in its search functionality. Now, Comer is requesting the same from Meta, asking for all documents related to the design of its AI chatbots and the internal policies governing how the company handles search results that it deems harmful or dangerous.
The company acknowledged that its AI, in a few instances, continued to provide incorrect answers, including at times stating that the event did not happen. However, Meta stated that the issue has been addressed and resolved.
Meta also admitted that a fact-check label was mistakenly applied to an authentic photo of Trump taken moments after he was shot. The mistake was attributed to the system confusing the image with a manipulated version that was circulating on the platform.
Referring to these explanations, Comer mentioned that the committee appreciated them but remained concerned, especially in light of the troubling pattern of speech suppression and censorship prevalent in technology and social media companies.
As an example, the congressman cited Facebook’s suppression of the New York Post’s exposé on Hunter Biden’s laptop prior to the 2020 presidential election. Mark Zuckerberg later revealed that the decision to censor the story was influenced by misinformation warnings from the FBI.
On behalf of the American people, the Committee is committed to fully understanding the circumstances surrounding the suppression or alteration of information by social media companies, whether due to technical errors, policies intended to ensure safety, or deliberate intent to mislead, Comer stated in his letter.
A spokesperson for Meta informed The Epoch Times that the company is cooperating with the Oversight Committee to address their inquiries.
American citizens rely on prominent search engines like Google to access news and information crucial to their understanding of national politics and events, especially during a presidential election season, Comer emphasized.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Google for comment.