House panel probing Capitol attack seeks records from Twitter, Facebook, 4chan and others

Chairman Bennie Thompson on Friday announced that the Jan. 6 select committee is seeking records from 15 social media companies — including 4chan, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Parler, Reddit, TikTok and Snapchat — to examine how they addressed violent extremism and misinformation leading up to the Capitol attack.

The robust records requests focus on the spread of misinformation, domestic violent extremism, foreign influence and attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election victory of Joe Biden. The letters sent to the social media companies ask for communications, data, reports and analyses dating back to the spring of 2020.

Lawmakers want information on what policy changes the companies made — or didn’t make — to combat misinformation, violent extremism and malign foreign influence. This includes what policies those companies had prior to Jan. 6 to sanction or ban accounts associated with violent extremists or other accounts that attempted to interfere with the election.