In recent years, particularly as social media and AI have played increasingly significant roles in online social interaction, governments have intensified their scrutiny of tech companies in attempts to regulate the digital landscape.
The recent death of extreme right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk has reignited heated debates, bringing this conversation back into focus. In response, the US Congress has summoned the CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit to testify—noticeably excluding Twitter/X and Facebook from the discussion.
Kentucky Representative James Comer, Chairman of the GOP Oversight Committee, announced the summoning of these tech and social platform leaders. Comer framed the move as a necessary call to action, urging tech companies to address concerns related to political violence.
It is understandable that platforms like Discord, Steam, and Reddit were called to answer questions, considering these ecosystems have been part of conversations surrounding the suspected shooter, Tyler Robinson, and his alleged motivations.
What stands out as unusual, however, is the absence of Mark Zuckerberg from Meta/Facebook and Elon Musk from X/Twitter in this lineup. Both Facebook and Twitter, especially Twitter, came under scrutiny for their handling of the situation—at times obfuscating the murderer’s identity with incendiary rhetoric and misplaced blame while the FBI was still working to identify the actual shooter in the early hours after the incident.
As of now, it remains unclear why Comer and the GOP Oversight Committee chose to exclude these major platforms from the ongoing conversation and scrutiny.
https://www.shacknews.com/article/145999/us-congress-social-platform-political-violence-x-facebook
