WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee want any FBI probe into conservative social network Parler and its involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol siege to also include a look into Facebook and Twitter.
In a letter to Intel chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the lawmakers say the tech giants were developing a growing alliance with Democrats to “muzzle certain viewpoints, opinions, and perspectives,” Fox News reported Monday.
“Like you, we were disturbed and angered by the riot and we believe those responsible should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” they wrote.
“But casting blame on a single social media company known for its conservative username while simply ignoring other social media companies known for sympathizing with liberal causes is blatantly and overtly partisan.”
In a letter to the FBI on Thursday, Maloney asked the agency to conduct a “robust examination” of Parler and its role as a “potential facilitator” in the riot at the Capitol, which left five people dead.
Amazon Web Services booted Parler from its platform earlier this month, forcing the social media site to go dark and leading to a flurry of litigation.
But in their letter to Maloney on Monday, the committee’s ranking member, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), and Rep. Greg Steube of Florida said multiple social media platforms were used by supporters of then-President Donald Trump to coordinate the riot.
The two Republicans charged that the probe was politically motivated and noted that Parler’s employees had not donated as generously to Democrats as Facebook and Twitter.
“During the 2020 election cycle Facebook employees contributed over $5 million in federal elections — 92.79% of which went to Democrats,” read the letter, citing Open Secrets.
“Twitter employees were even more generous to Democrats, with 98.41% of all federal contributions in the 2020 cycle going to Democrats.”
In the wake of the riot, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter also temporarily banned Trump from their platforms, robbing the outgoing commander-in-chief of his preferred pulpit.