Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger, two of the journalists credited with publishing “The Twitter Files,” testified at a hearing in front of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government Thursday. Taibbi and Shellenberger published Twitter Files threads on the social media app after Elon Musk gave them access to internal communication.
The Twitter Files revealed the FBI paid Twitter for information requests and the government asked the company to penalize accounts spreading so-called “misinformation.” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, expressed concern regarding the federal government’s relationship with Big Tech.
“Now think about that. The federal government is saying ‘we want you to do a background check on members of the press,’” Rep. Jordan said Thursday. “Freedom of the press mentioned in the First Amendment and they want Twitter to do a background check on you before they can talk to you in America?”
Besides its subject matter, the Twitter Files hearing was highlighted by members of the House subcommittee straying from the purpose of a typical hearing. Congress.gov, the official website for federal legislative information, refers to “hearings” as “a method by which committee members gather information to inform committee business.”
Instead of genuinely questioning the journalists and gathering information, some of the elected members used their minutes to grandstand.