House Republicans may just be getting started with contempt proceedings against Mark Zuckerberg as a possible penalty could “send a message to big tech” that they’re “coming for them.”
(Video: Fox News)
Since the 118th Congress began, the House Judiciary Committee has conducted an investigation of the weaponization of the federal government and alleged cooperation with social media companies, among others, to control information. Toward that end, the committee subpoenaed Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for documents to uncover possible connections.
Previously, it had been reported that the unsatisfactory response from the company could land CEO Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress, and Tuesday it was confirmed that the proceedings would begin Thursday and could end with a year’s worth of jail time.
“Fox News has confirmed the House will move forward to cite Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for contempt of Congress,” Fox News anchor Sandra Smith stated. “House Republicans say the social media giant has not turned over enough documents that would shine a light on the company’s censorship.”
Correspondent Hillary Vaughn provided details and explained, “Sandra, this is all part of the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into whether or not Meta coordinated with the White House and the executive branch to censor people on their platform and by extension, violating the First Amendment rights of users on their platform.”
After recapping how Meta had responded to requests from the committee, Vaughn arrived at the potential consequences and said, “If held in contempt, Zuckerberg could face up to a year in jail. But that’s only if the DOJ or the U.S. Attorney were to move forward with prosecution. That is not very likely.”
Though rare, the potential has been seen recently with Steve Bannon, former adviser to then-President Donald Trump, having been sentenced to four months after he had been found guilty of contempt of Congress last year when Democrats still held control of the House of Representatives.
To that end, Vaughn determined, “it could be that even if they did cite with contempt, ultimately it would just be a symbolic gesture or possibly just a way to send a message to big tech that House Republicans are coming for them.”
The case against Zuckerberg reached back to the February subpoena of documents to which the GOP-led committee found the response insufficient. A statement from Meta’s Andy Stone countered, “We began sharing documents before the committee’s February subpoena and have continued to do so. To date, we have delivered over 53,000 pages of documents — both internal and external — and have made nearly a dozen current and former employees available to discuss external and internal matters, including some scheduled this very week.”
Meta’s reaction to Thursday’s contempt hearing via @andymstone : https://t.co/nKcSV0bAlJ pic.twitter.com/rtK7DlO1Dr
— Hillary Vaughn (@hillary__vaughn) July 25, 2023
Members of Congress disagreed and their own statement argued, “The Committee has a particular need for Meta’s internal documents, which would shed light on how Meta understood, evaluated, and responded to the Executive Branch’s requests or directives to censor content, as well as Meta’s decision-making process to censor viewpoints in the modern town square. Having exhausted all available options in obtaining timely compliance, the Chairman of the Committee and the Select Subcommittee recommends that…the House finds Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress for his failure to comply with the subpoena issued to him.”
From the House Judiciary contempt report detailing the basis for moving forward with contempt hearing – says info Meta handed over lacked internal communications between WH/Executive Branch and Meta. pic.twitter.com/ZmP1XPHwiq
— Hillary Vaughn (@hillary__vaughn) July 25, 2023
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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