Nearly two-thirds of Americans agree that Congress should investigate whether the FBI played a role in muzzling information on social media platforms, according to a newly released poll.
A Rasmussen Reports survey posted Monday found 63% of likely U.S. voters favored such an investigation, while 22% were opposed and 15% were undecided.
The question was: “Should Congress investigate whether the FBI was involved in censoring information on social media sites?”
The poll was conducted after newly minted Twitter owner Elon Musk began releasing internal documents to independent journalists on the company’s communications with the FBI, the Justice Department and the Biden campaign amid the 2020 Hunter Biden laptop scandal.
The Rasmussen poll, which was sponsored by the 2021 book “Laptop from Hell” by Miranda Devine, also found that 63% of voters “believe it is likely that the FBI encouraged social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to ‘suppress, silence, or reduce the search of certain political speech and speakers.’”
“Twenty-seven percent (27%) don’t think it’s likely the FBI encouraged social media to ‘suppress’ or ‘silence’ political speech, while another 11% are not sure,” according to the pollster.
SEE ALSO: Latest ‘Twitter Files’ point to CIA involvement in pressure campaign to censor speech
Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican set to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in January, launched Friday an investigation into the FBI’s alleged involvement in censoring conservative content.
“From disclosed Twitter documents and publicly available information, it is clear the FBI worked extensively with Twitter to advance censorship of certain speech on Twitter’s platform,” Mr. Jordan wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. “These revelations sadly reinforce our deep concerns about the FBI’s misconduct and its hostility to the First Amendment.”
‘TwitterGate’? 63% Want FBI’s Social Media Activity Investigatedhttps://t.co/2RrkE1n2K9 pic.twitter.com/XO2DCTU5qv
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) December 26, 2022
SEE ALSO: ‘Twitter Files’ spur House inquiry into FBI’s coordination with Twitter to censor speech
The Rasmussen poll of 900 likely U.S. voters conducted Dec. 19-21 has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
A Harvard-Harris poll released earlier this month found 71% of Republicans, 65% of Democrats and 68% of independents believe Congress and the FBI should thoroughly investigate potential civil and First Amendment violations by Twitter.
• Joseph Clark contributed to this report.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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