(The Hill) – Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) called on the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday to investigate the social media platform X after the site appeared to prevent users from following Vice President Harris’ campaign account on Monday.
Nadler’s letter calls on Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to look at the “serious and time-sensitive censorship issue” on the platform.
Harris launched her presidential campaign on Monday after President Biden ended his own reelection bid. Her campaign account, @KamalaHQ, has quickly acquired over a million followers on X.
“Regardless of political ideology, Americans have a protected interest in receiving Vice President Harris’ communications regarding her candidacy,” Nadler wrote. “Vice President Harris, in turn, has a right to communicate with the American people as she runs for the highest office in the country.”
The letter provides examples of users being shown “limit reached” and other errors when they attempt to follow the Harris account.
“These error messages do not make any sense. Users experiencing these issues are otherwise free to follow other accounts and they are not in violation of potential request limits,” Nadler wrote.
“This suggests that X may be intentionally throttling or blocking Vice President Harris’ ability to communicate with potential voters,” he continued. “If true, such action would amount to egregious censorship based on political and viewpoint discrimination — issues that this Committee clearly has taken very seriously.”
“Given your long track record of fighting against political discrimination on the platform ‘town squares’ of American discourse, I trust that you will join me in requesting additional information from X regarding this apparent censorship of a candidate for President of the United States,” Nadler wrote to Jordan. “The Committee should immediately launch an investigation and request at a minimum the following information from X.”
Jordan has long been a critic of what he describes as social media platforms’ censorship of political speech. Last year, he issued subpoenas to three government agencies accused of pressuring social media sites to quell certain speech, particularly as it relates to information around COVID-19 during the pandemic.
Elon Musk, the owner of X, has been critical of Harris since she announced her candidacy. Musk endorsed former President Trump last week and has committed tens of millions of dollars to support his campaign.
