The House Oversight Committee questioned former Twitter executives. Over the platform’s handling of New York Post articles about Hunter Biden in 2020.
House Republicans’ hearing on Twitter’s “role in suppressing the Biden laptop story.” Took some unexpected turns Wednesday — including a witness testifying. That the White House requested the platform remove a Chrissy Teigen. Tweet insulting then-President Donald Trump.
During questioning during a House Oversight. Committee hearing on Hunter Biden, Rep. Gerry Conley. D-Va., asked Annika Collier Navaroli, a former employee. Of Twitter’s content moderation team, about the September 2019. Exchange between Trump and Teigen. The president tweeted about “disgusting” musician John Legend and his “foul-faced” wife.
Teigen responded with a crude tweet insulting Trump. Including a term she infamously used on the “Access Hollywood” tape.
“The White House almost immediately. contacted Twitter to demand that the tweet be taken down. Is that correct?” Connolly asked.
“I heard that we got a request from the White House to make sure we evaluated this tweet. At the president,” Navarroli said. Yet, the tweet was not taken down.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. used. The hearing to push back against Republicans’ claims. That Twitter was biased toward conservatives. He asked Navarro about the company’s response to a 2019 Trump tweet in which he called. On Ocasio-Cortez and three other Democratic congresswomen. To “go back and help fix the places they came from that are totally broken and crime-ridden.”
Navarroli said his team reviewed the tweet and found it violated Twitter’s policy. Against abuse of immigrants, which expressly prohibits. The phrase “go back to where you came from.”
“Yes, that trope, go back to where you came from, was removed from. The Content Moderation Guidelines as an example,” Navarroli said.
“So Twitter changed their own policy when the president. violated it to essentially adjust his tweet?” Ocasio-Cortez asked. “Yes,” said Navarroli.
“So much for bias against the right wing on Twitter,” the congresswoman said.
Democrats weren’t the only ones deviating from the hearings. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. used her time to chide former executives in attendance. For banning her personal account in January of last year. For spreading Covid misinformation.
“Consider your speech banned as you banned mine,” Green told the group. “You violated my First Amendment rights,” he said, and “abused the power of a large corporation.”
“I’m very glad you lost your job,” Green told the former executives. “Thank God Elon Musk bought Twitter,” he added. Referring to the billionaire who recovered his account.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., took a similar tack. Lashing out at former Twitter executives by limiting her account’s reach to 90 days in 2021. He said the move was prompted by a tweet that was a “freaking’ joke. Hillary Clinton.” “One that called the 2020 election rigged.
Rep. Nancy Mays, R-S.C., used her hearing on Twitter to complain. About blocking some doctors for expressing opposing views of the. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Covid and vaccines.
“I find it extremely troubling that Twitter’s relentless censorship. Has spilled over into the medical field,” Mays said.
“I and many Americans have long-term effects from Covid,” Mays said. “Not only was I a long-hauler, but my vaccine is having an effect. It wasn’t the first shot but it was the second shot. That I’ve now developed asthma which has never gone away since the second shot. I have tremors in my left hand and my Sometimes there are heartaches that no doctor can explain.”
He then questioned how Twitter knew to censor. Certain medical professionals and asked Vijaya Gadde. Twitter’s former general counsel, “You’re not a doctor, are you?“
Questions about the handling of the New York Post. Reporting platform in 2020 about the alleged content of a laptop owned by Hunter Biden. where the social media company controversially blocked users from tweeting. And sending direct messages.
