YouTube

YouTubeparent company Alphabet faces mounting pressure to follow Meta’s lead in scaling back content moderation policies after House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan issued a subpoena demanding documents related to alleged censorship. The move signals a potential shift in how tech platforms moderate content under theTrump administration.
Jordan’s subpoena, issued Thursday, demands Alphabet provide documents showing whether YouTube removed content at the request of the Biden-Harris administration, describing the company as “a direct participant in the federal government’s censorship regime.”
The action follows Meta’s decision to end fact-checking on its platforms earlier this year after Jordan’s committee published a report claiming theBiden administrationhad coerced the company into removing content.
“Following this oversight, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, admitted that it was wrong to bow to the Biden-Harris Administration’s demands, publicly committed to restoring free speech on its platforms, and reformed its policies,” Jordan wrote in the letter accompanying the Alphabet subpoena.
Google spokesperson Jose Castañeda responded to The Verge, saying: “We’ll continue to show the committee how we enforce our policies independently, rooted in our commitment to free expression.”
The push against content moderation has gained significant momentum sinceDonald Trump‘s removal from Twitter (now X) following January 6, 2021. WithTrumpnow in office, the administration appears poised to pressure more tech companies to adopt less restrictive content policies.
Jordan has previously directed his committee’s investigative powers toward Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple, alleging these companies targeted conservative social media accounts at the behest of the prior administration’s Justice Department, constituting what he calls unlawful suppression of free speech.