Select committee demands records from internet giants as part of Capitol riot probe

Google, Facebook, Twitter and a dozen other websites, services and apps have been asked to provide documents and records to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Chairman Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat, sent 15 letters Friday demanding various documentation involving the November 2020 presidential election and the subsequent rioting on Capitol Hill.

“The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is examining the facts, circumstances, and causes of the attack and relating to the peaceful transfer of power, in order to identify and evaluate lessons learned and to recommend corrective laws, policies, procedures, rules or regulations,” Mr. Thompson stated in the letters.

Each recipient has been given two weeks to provide the Select Committee with a host of material relevant to the House investigation. Documents are due by Sept. 9.

The wave of demands for records is the second made since the Democratic-led House of Representatives voted in July to create the bipartisan Select Committee despite objections from the Republican minority.

Mr. Thompson previously sent requests Wednesday this week to various executive branch agencies seeking records from when former President Trump was still in the White House involving the Capitol riot

Trump supporters breached the Capitol building during a joint session of Congress that was held to officially recognize President Biden to be the true and honest winner of the 2020 White House race.

Among the latest documents sought by the select committee are any “internal or external reviews, studies, reports, data, analyses and related communications” involving topics including misinformation and relating to the 2020 election; efforts to interfere with the 2020 election or its certification; extremists associated with efforts to overturn the 2020 election; and foreign malign influence in the race.

Recipients of the second wave of requests for documents range from the operators of the most popular U.S. search engine and social media services, to several lesser-known or niche platforms and websites.

In addition to Google, Facebook and Twitter, the committee has also requested documents from the administrators of services including the imageboard sites 4chan and 8kun (formerly 8chan); social media services Gab, Parler, and Telegram; the Reddit forums; theDonald.win, an offshoot site popular among Trump supporters; video-sharing and streaming platforms Snapchat, Tik-Tok, Twitch and YouTube; and Zello, a walkie-talkie app that was used by several people who stormed the Capitol building to communicate while the riot occurred.

Prosecutors have brought federal criminal charges against more than 550 people accused of involvement in the riot, and new arrests and indictments have continued to be announced nearly eight months later.

Other material sought by the Select Committee includes policy changes made since Jan. 6, related internal reviews and any communications from employees raising concerns from within about related matters.

Recipients have also been asked to share with the Select Committee certain related “accounts, users, groups, events, messaging forums, marketplaces, posts or other user-generated content,” including any concerning the Capitol riot and related matters that were either removed or suppressed from their services or provided to law enforcement or other federal, state or local government official or agency.

That would mean any user records already turned over by the likes of Twitter or Facebook to federal prosecutors as part of their probes would soon need to be in the possession of the House members as well. 

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