Storm on US Capitol: Committee requests internal documents from social networks

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Five people died on January 6, 2021

Photo: Leah Millis / REUTERS

The investigative committee into the storming of the US Capitol has requested the release of internal information from Facebook and other social networks under threat of criminal prosecution.

This affects YouTube, Reddit, Twitter and the platforms of the Facebook group Meta, because they have not yet voluntarily provided the desired information even after months of exchange, the House of Representatives said on Thursday.

Companies now have two weeks to comply with the requirement.

Should they refuse, the cases are likely to deal with the courts soon.

"Bedgrounds" for radicalization

It is about examining "how the spread of misinformation and violent extremism contributed to the violent attack on our democracy," the panel wrote. In addition, it must be disclosed what steps the platforms may have taken to prevent being "breeding grounds for the radicalization of people to violence," it said.

The committee's letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the committee believed the company had "critical information" to clarify the events of January 6, 2021. A large amount of hate speech, calls for violence, conspiracy theories and misinformation were being circulated on the company's platforms -- which include Instagram and WhatsApp -- before the attack on the Capitol, wrote committee chair Bennie Thompson.

YouTube, in turn, was used by users for communications related to the "planning and execution" of the Jan. 6 attack, including live streams during the storm, it said.

The same applies to Twitter.

The company is said to have received warnings before the attack, the panel wrote.

Twitter has also not provided any information on the decision to suspend then-President Donald Trump's account on January 8.

Trump supporters had stormed the seat of the US Congress in Washington to prevent confirmation of Democrat Joe Biden's victory.

The attack on January 6 last year killed five people and injured dozens.

The attack on the heart of US democracy shook the country.

muk/dpa