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House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney and Stephen
Lynch, Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, urged
chief executives to act fast in letters addressed to eight
internet companies, including Facebook-parent Meta Platforms
Inc., Twitter Inc. and TikTok.
The requests come more than a week after a Columbus man was shot
dead in a standoff with police after he tried to breach an FBI
building in Ohio. Last week the FBI and U.S Department of
Homeland Security alerted law enforcement agencies of an
increase in threats.
The Democrats want to know if the uptick in online threats was
linked to what they described as "reckless statements" issued by
Trump and Republicans condemning the search.
"We urge you to take immediate action to address any threats of
violence against law enforcement that appear on your
company's platforms," the lawmakers said in the letters.
Letters were also made out to the Trump-backed platform Truth
Social, Rumble, Gettr, Telegram and Gab.
In addition to information about the companies' response to the
online threats, the House panel also asked for their plans to
minimize users' ability to incite violence.
Lawmakers said they would consider proposing legislation to
protect law officers and improve coordination with federal
agencies.
The FBI has been the subject of online threats since its agents
searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate last week as part of an
investigation into documents removed from the White House when
Trump left office in January 2021. Agents removed 11 sets of
classified records from the resort in Palm Beach, including some
labeled "top secret" for the most sensitive U.S. national
security information.
(Reporting by Tyler Clifford in New York; Editing by Tomasz
Janowski)
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