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(DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) - 2024-04-09 JDJ To DOJ Re Ongoing Meetings
(DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) - 2024-04-09 JDJ To DOJ Re Ongoing Meetings
The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of how and to what extent the
Executive Branch has coerced or colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor
lawful speech.1 As a part of this oversight, on August 17, 2023, the Committee issued a subpoena
to you for documents related to, among other things, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ)
communications with social media companies.2 On March 20, 2024, an FBI spokesperson
confirmed that the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) has recently resumed
communicating with major social media and technology companies regarding alleged foreign
influence campaigns and how they may affect U.S. elections.3 This letter is to inform you that all
documents and communications relating to ongoing discussions between the DOJ or FBI and
social media and technology companies fall within the scope of the Committee’s subpoena.
Given the FITF’s improper role in communicating with social media and technology
companies during the 2020 presidential election, the resumption of meetings between the FITF
and Big Tech before the 2024 presidential election is deeply troubling.4 These meetings stopped
after the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction
against the FBI that prohibited them from coercing or significantly encouraging social media
companies to censor content, which was largely affirmed by a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court
1
See Ryan Tracy, Facebook Bowed to White House Pressure, Removed Covid Posts, WALL ST. J. (July 28, 2023).
2
Letter from Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman, H. Comm. on the Judiciary, to Hon. Merrick B. Garland, Atty. Gen., Dep’t
of Justice (Aug. 17, 2023) (attaching subpoena).
3
See Kevin Collier and Ken Dilanian, FBI Resumes Outreach to Social Media Companies Over Foreign
Propaganda, NBC NEWS (Mar. 20, 2024).
4
See Brief for Jim Jordan, et. al, as Amicus Curiae, Murthy v. Missouri, No. 23-411 (filed Feb. 15, 2024); see also
Letter from Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman, H. Comm. on the Judiciary, to Hon. Christopher A. Wray, Dir., Fed. Bureau
of Investigation (July 20, 2023).
The Honorable Merrick B. Garland
April 9, 2024
Page 2
of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.5 But following the Supreme Court’s recent stay of the
injunction,6 the FITF “resumed outreach” with social media companies.7 According to an FBI
spokesperson, the purpose of this outreach is “to facilitate sharing information about foreign
malign influence with social media companies.”8
• All records, notes, and other documents of interactions between or among the FITF or the
FBI’s San Francisco Field Office and social media and technology companies, including
but not limited to Meta, X (formerly Twitter), Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple, Reddit, and
Yahoo.
• All communications and documents between or among the DOJ or FBI and social media
and technology companies relating to information sharing as it relates to alleged foreign
influence or election integrity.
• All internal communications and documents relating to information sharing with social
media and technology companies as it relates to alleged foreign influence or election
integrity.
5
Kevin Collier and Ken Dilanian, FBI Resumes Outreach to Social Media Companies Over Foreign Propaganda,
NBC NEWS (Mar. 20, 2024); Missouri v. Biden, 83 F.4th 350 (5th Cir. 2023).
6
See Murthy v. Missouri, No. 23A243 (23-411), 601 U.S. __ , (Oct. 13, 2023) (granting application for stay); but
see Murthy v. Missouri 601 U.S. __ (Oct. 20, 2023) (Alito, J., dissenting) (“At this time in the history of our
country, what the Court has done, I fear, will be seen by some as giving the Government a green light to use heavy-
handed tactics to skew the presentation of views on the medium that increasingly dominates the dissemination of
news. That is most unfortunate.”).
7
See Kevin Collier and Ken Dilanian, FBI Resumes Outreach to Social Media Companies Over Foreign
Propaganda, NBC NEWS (Mar. 20, 2024).
8
Id.
9
See n.2, Subpoena, Instructions, 14.
10
See, e.g., id., Schedule A, 1(a), (b).
The Honorable Merrick B. Garland
April 9, 2024
Page 3
Please produce these documents as soon as possible, but no later than two weeks after
each DOJ or FBI meeting with social media and technology companies takes place. You may
begin producing documents on a rolling basis to ensure the Committee can consider this
information as promptly as possible. If you have any questions about this request, please contact
Committee staff at (202) 225-6906. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Jim Jordan
Chairman