Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Wednesday told the three former Twitter executives she is glad they were fired from the platform, in an explosive line of questioning that became personal for the GOP firebrand who was once banned from the site.
Ms. Greene accused Twitter’s former chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, former deputy general counsel James Baker and former head of trust and safety Yoel Roth of abusing the power of Big Tech to censor conservatives by canceling her own account and that of former President Donald Trump.
“You were censoring and wrongfully violating our First Amendment rights,” she said. “None of you are elected. And none of you represent 750,000 people like I do.”
Twitter suspended Ms. Greene’s account in January 2022 for “repeated violations of the platform’s COVID-19 misinformation policy. Her account was reinstated in November following Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform.
In addition to silencing conservative politicians, the Georgia Republican lashed out at the platform for censoring doctors and ordinary Americans who veered from mainstream views.
“I’m so glad that you’re censored now,” she said. “I’m so glad that you’ve lost your jobs.”
The executives were among several top Twitter officials who left the company or were fired after Mr. Musk bought the platform.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s hearing is the first in a series focused on “protecting speech from government interference and social media bias,” according to the committee. It also is the opening salvo in the committee’s probe into President Biden and his family’s long trail of suspicious business dealings.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, accused Republicans of pursuing “already debunked and hyperpartisan conspiracy theories about President Biden, his family and the so-called deep state.”
“Conspiracy theories and disinformation are already at a fever pitch in the new Congress,” he said. “Committee Democrats stand ready to work with our Republican colleagues when they get serious about tackling the problems that affect the American people.”
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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