At MAGA-Led Hearing, Committee Democrats Warn of Ongoing Threats to Democracy, While Exposing Republicans’ Hypocrisy

Washington, D.C. (Feb. 8, 2023)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, led Committee Democrats in criticizing Committee Republicans for using their newly obtained Oversight gavel to relitigate the editorial decisions of a private social media company made more than two years ago, and that had no impact on the outcome of the 2020 election, instead of focusing on delivering meaningful results for the American people.

"This morning, we return—not to focus on expanding this robust agenda of progress but instead to take up an authentically trivial pursuit. The Majority has called a hearing to revisit a two-year-old story about a private editorial decision by Twitter not to allow links to a single New York Post article made for a two-day period that had no discernible influence on anyone or anything," said Ranking Member Raskin in his opening statement.

The Committee heard testimony from Anika Collier Navaroli, former Senior Safety Policy Domain Specialist at Twitter; Vijaya Gadde, former Chief Legal Officer at Twitter; James Baker, Former Deputy General Counsel at Twitter; and Yoel Roth, Former Global Head of Trust & Safety at Twitter.

Testimony from Ms. Navaroli revealed how Twitter actively worked to accommodate former President Trump's weaponization of Twitter to undermine American democracy by inciting violence, spreading mis- and disinformation, and fomenting hate.

• Ms. Navaroli testified: "I was involved in decisions made leading up to, during and after the January 6th attack on the Capitol. If we are going to talk about social media and the government, we need to talk about Twitter's failure to act before January 6th. I am here to tell you that doing nothing is not an option. If we continue to do nothing, violence is going to happen again."

• Ms. Navaroli testified that Twitter changed its policies in order to accommodate former President Trump. During questioning from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Navaroli explained that in July 2019, she assessed that a tweet from former President Trump telling four Congresswomen of color to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came" violated Twitter's terms of service. However, according to Ms. Navaroli, her assessment was overridden, and "that trope, ‘go back to where you came from' was removed from the content moderation guidance as an example."

• In response to questioning from Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Ms. Navaroli testified about how former President Trump's Twitter account was treated differently from other world leaders. Ms. Navaroli explained: "At my time at Twitter, the former President Donald Trump's account was the only account that I did not have access to." She added: "It was my understanding that alarms would ring within Twitter if the account was accessed outside of a select group of individuals who had access to that account."

None of the witnesses corroborated House Republicans' wild and baseless allegations that the U.S. government, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), or the Biden Campaign, colluded with Twitter to "censor" or "suppress" a New York Post story ahead of the 2020 election.

• None of the witnesses testified that the U.S. government, including FBI, directed or ordered Twitter to limit distribution of the New York Post story. Nor did any of the witnesses testify that FBI warned Twitter that the New York Post story was foreign disinformation.

• None of the witnesses testified that the Biden Campaign, or any other Democratic officials, directed Twitter to take action against the New York Post story.

• Although Mr. Roth testified that during a meeting with the U.S. government, "a representative of another tech company" may have mentioned Hunter Biden, he later clarified: "I want to be clear that my statement to the FEC does not suggest that the FBI told me it [a hack-and-leak operation] would involve Hunter Biden. That's a popular reading of that declaration but it was not my intent."

Although Committee Republicans accused FBI of "colluding" with Twitter to "suppress" the New York Post story, evidence revealed at—and as a result of—today's hearing shows that Trump Administration officials "routinely" asked Twitter to take down content to which they objected.

• Referring to a 2019 tweet from celebrity Chrissy Teigen that was critical of former President Trump, Ms. Navaroli testified, "the White House reached out to ask that this tweet be removed."

• Ranking Member Raskin entered into the hearing record a Rolling Stone article that was released during the hearing, which reported that "[F]ormer Trump Administration officials and Twitter employees tell Rolling Stone that the White House's Teigen tweet demand was hardly an isolated incident: The Trump Administration and its allied Republicans in Congress routinely asked Twitter to take down posts they objected to — the exact behavior that they're claiming makes President Biden, the Democrats, and Twitter complicit in an anti-free speech conspiracy to muzzle conservatives online."

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