CEO Sundar Pichai and Alphabet Subpoenaed by House GOP over Alleged Censorship

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Alphabet Inc. and its CEO Sundar Pichai as part of its ongoing investigation into the largest tech companies' ties to the Biden administration.

The subpoena, issued Thursday, specifically seeks documents pertaining to communications between the company and Pichai with the previous administration, which Republicans claim amounted to an attempt to censor Americans' speech.

The committee has requested the documents by March 28, according to a copy of the subpoena released on Thursday. The subpoena specifically requests information "regarding the moderation, deletion, suppression, restriction, or reduced circulation of content."

According to Google spokesperson Jose Castañeda, the company will continue to demonstrate its commitment to free expression by independently enforcing its policies.

Documents obtained and published by the Judiciary panel last year revealed that the Biden administration pressured companies, including Meta Platforms Inc., to remove certain online posts related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Officials from the Biden administration said the posts contained dangerous misinformation, but Republicans claimed it was an attempt to censor conservative speech.

The committee is looking for communications between YouTube and Google, Alphabet subsidiaries, and the Biden administration, as well as any relevant internal conversations.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan stated in a letter that the communications are needed "to develop effective legislation, such as the possible enactment of new statutory limits on the executive branch's ability to work with Big Tech to restrict the circulation of content and deplatform users."

Pichai was one of several major tech company CEOs who attended Donald Trump's inauguration. Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook, and Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg all sat on the dais with Trump that day, raising questions about whether conservatives were warming up to the tech executives after years of hostility.

The House Judiciary Committee subpoena demonstrates that Republicans continue to pursue oversight of tech companies, particularly on the issue of conservative speech.Last week, the committee issued subpoenas to Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft Corp., X Corp., and others to obtain information about their communications with foreign governments.