Jordan confronts tech CEOs over claims of anti-conservative bias

Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, opened his testimony at Wednesday’s hearing on competition in digital marketplaces by accusing Big Tech of censoring conservative voices.

“I’ll just cut to the chase, Big Tech is out to get conservatives,” Jordan asserted during his opening remarks at the hearing. “That’s not a hunch, that’s not a suspicion, that’s a fact.”

Jordan’s remarks came at the start of a hearing featuring Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Big tech’s out to get conservatives. It’s time they face the consequences. pic.twitter.com/jfPRPL1rZ1

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 29, 2020

The GOP lawmaker listed a series of instances where social media companies have removed certain content — including misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic that is contradicted by the World Health Organization — in arguing that there is active, systemic censorship.

He pointed to allegations that Google was censoring the right-wing site Breitbart News and that Amazon’s Twitch banned President Trump’s channel.

Trump’s account was only temporarily suspended for violating platform policies, and has since been restored.

Jordan also reminded the committee that he had pushed hard for Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to testify during Wednesday’s hearing, although the company does not face the same antitrust scrutiny as others appearing.

Subcommittee ranking member Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) also brought up allegations of anti-conservative bias during his opening remarks and first round of testimony.