Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg faces CONTEMPT of Congress charge

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg faces CONTEMPT of Congress charge this week as Republicans escalate their war on Big Tech

• Committee vote could come Thursday
• House Republicans are demanding internal documents as they probe Big Tech 

The House Judiciary Committee is setting up a potential vote this week to hold Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress over the fight for documents in the GOP’s probe of Big Tech.

The Republican-run panel, helmed by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, is expected to hold the contempt vote Thursday – which could advance the matter before the full House.

It would crank up the pressure as congressional Republicans are trying to compel the company to hand over documents it says Meta, which owns Facebook, has been refusing to hand over.

‘Facebook has critical information that it has not turned over to the committee regarding federal government efforts to censor speech online and how Facebook responded to those efforts. It is imperative the committee get these materials and we will take whatever actions necessary to facilitate that end,’ said Judiciary spokesman Russell Dye.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms faces a potential vote this week in the House Judiciary Committee citing him with contempt over failure to produce documents

‘And they have provided zero internal communications between Meta and the federal government, as requested in the subpoena,’ he told DailyMail.com.

Sources told Fox News last week the company had not provided any documents that it had requested through a subpoena. 

Punchbowl news reported the hearing could come Thursday, a date the panel said it was considering. 

Jordan, a Donald Trump ally, subpoenaed executives from Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft back in February soon after Republicans took control of the committee over any ‘collusion’ with the federal government to suppress free speech.

House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan subpoenaed Meta and other Big Tech firms. His panel could vote to hold Zuckerberg in contempt as soon as this week

Zuckerberg has become a jiu-jitsu blue belt and is regularly training in MMA. There has been talk of him taking on Twitter boss Elon Musk in a bout

The subpoenas demanded internal communications between the company and the federal government over content moderation, deletion, or ‘suppression’ of content and related documents. 

Jordan wrote Zuckerberg last week to re-up his demands – this time mentioning Meta’s new platform Threads, which is a direct competitor to Elon Musk’s Twitter, which has brought back suspended accounts by conservatives and former President Donald Trump, and is now rebranding itself as ‘X.’

‘In light of Meta’s introduction of a new social media platform, “Threads,” we write to inform you that it is the Committee’s view that the subpoena of February 15 covers material to date relating to Threads,’ Jordan wrote.

‘Since the Committee’s subpoena to Meta, we have obtained additional evidence that the federal government has coerced or colluded with technology, social media, and other companies to moderate content online. These examples reinforce the Committee’s serious concerns about whether the Executive Branch is engaging in censorship by proxy—using surrogates to censor, suppress, or discourage speech in a manner that the government is unable to do itself.’

Jordan claimed Twitter has faced ‘political persecution from the Biden Administration following Musk’s commitment to free speech,’ a charge the administration denies. 

The move is largely symbolic, although a contempt of Congress citation can be referred to full house, where a vote can refer it to prosecutors, which could bring fines and jail time. 

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