The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol issued subpoenas to four social media companies as part of its investigation into the riot and its causes. (WSJ)
Jan. 6 select committee chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) sent letters to YouTube parent company Alphabet, Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta, Reddit and Twitter, demanding for those companies to provide additional information on how those platforms were used to organize the day’s violent events. (TechCrunch)
The four social media companies have key information related to the spread of misinformation, efforts to overturn the 2020 election and domestic violent extremism, the panel said. (Axios)
The move, a sharp escalation in a long-brewing standoff between investigators and the companies, came after months of seeking data that yielded “inadequate responses,” Thompson said. “We cannot allow our work to be delayed any longer,” he said in a statement. (WaPo)
The committee made its initial request for the documents from 15 social media companies in August, which also included TikTok, Parler, Telegram, 4chan and 8kun. (ABC News / AP)