US lawmakers probe foreign pressure on tech platforms

A Congressional committee has sent subpoenas to eight US internet giants demanding to know whether foreign governments are curbing what can be seen online in the United States.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan this week sent subpoenas seeking company communications with foreign governments on “compliance with foreign censorship laws, regulations, judicial orders, or other government-initiated efforts,” a statement released on Wednesday said.

“The Committee must understand how and to what extent foreign governments have limited Americans’ access to lawful speech in the United States,” the statement said.

It added the committee wanted to probe if and how the administration of Democratic former president Joe Biden “aided or abetted these efforts.”

The heads of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Rumble, TikTok and X, received subpoenas citing threats to “Americans’ civil liberties.”

“This subpoena stems from a fundamental disagreement between the United States Congress and certain foreign governments regarding Americans’ right to free expression online,” the letters sent to company heads said.

The demand comes two weeks after US Vice President JD Vance gave a combative speech in Germany accusing European countries of limiting free speech.

He also recently slammed the European Union’s content moderation rules known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), which were mentioned in the subpoena letters.

The law is at the center of growing tensions between the European Union on one side, and US big tech and the new Trump administration on the other.

Other examples noted by the committee included judicial orders in Australia and Brazil demanding some content be taken down globally from online platforms.

The letters note that the orders were challenged by X, owned by Elon Musk, a Trump ally who has taken a major role in the new administration.

© 2025 AFP