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The US Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, said on Wednesday that he was assembling attorneys general to examine whether companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter "intentionally smother the free exchange of ideas" online. (Robert F. Bukaty / AP)
Democrat Attorneys General of Key States said they had not yet been invited by the Justice Department to its next review of technology companies, prompting criticism that the Trump administration's investigation would be a political attack on the technology sector.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Wednesday that he was bring together attorneys general to examine whether companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter "intentionally suppress the free exchange of ideas" online. The Justice Department said the purpose of the meeting was to follow a hearing that had just taken place on Capitol Hill with Facebook and Twitter and to consult "a number of states to find out if Silicon Valley's behavior is "hurt the competition". The meeting is tentatively scheduled for September 25 in Washington.
The California and New York Democrat Attorneys General – two technology hubs – as well as Connecticut and Washington officials working on technology, consumer protection and antitrust issues have not yet been guests. this week.
The Association of General Democrat Advocates stated that it had "heard no Democratic Attorney General [are] invited "from Friday morning, according to the director of communication Lizzie Ulmer.
Only Ken Paxton, the Republican Attorney General of Texas, said he would attend the event, scheduled for the end of the month, a spokesman said.
According to a person familiar with planning, the Department of Justice has received requests from a number of Republican and Democrat Attorneys General who said that planning for the meeting was still in its infancy.
A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment.
The potentially partisan nature of the DOJ meeting has raised deep suspicions among some technology experts, particularly in the context of President Trump's recent comments on social media sites.
"This type of meeting, in a highly politicized environment, will have no credibility if all participants come from the same political party," said Gene Kimmelman, former senior justice department official who is currently chairman of Public Knowledge. , a group of consumers.
The Washington Post has communicated this week with the 50 state attorneys general. On Friday, ten Democrats and five Republican attorneys general said they had not received an invitation. The lack of clarity prompted Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson to write Sessions on Friday asking him to explain who was invited, why he was invited, and whether Trump's tweets accusing companies were announcing. The Department of Justice was working on the issue before legislators convened their hearing on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the plans, who was not allowed to speak publicly.
"Normally, you would like to invite all state officials, because you do not want to leave some of these relationships uncoordinated," said Jeffrey Blumenfeld, former DOJ antitrust officer and partner at the Lowenstein Sandler law firm. "I do not know a time, where there were choices and choices among the government offices at the invitation level."
This announcement represents the latest escalation of the Trump administration and its Republican allies, who claim that Silicon Valley is biased against the Conservatives. Trump himself led the charge, describing Twitter's behavior earlier this year as "illegal" and later suggesting that Google "faked" the search results to show negative stories about it. Its chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, first said that the White House is studying the possibility of regulation before Trump returns to its positions. A few days later, however, the president said companies like Google were in a "very antitrust situation".
On Friday, Kudlow made contact with Fox Business Network to point out that he "had never said the word regulation" with respect to search results – but noted that the technology industry had " a lot to conservative tweets. "
"I do not want to go ahead with legal or regulatory actions," he said.
But the Attorney General's interest in the way social media authorizes or blocks content has worried many players in the technology industry and has strongly criticized freedom of speech advocates, saying the government should leave the issue to the public. private companies. Even Conservative groups have expressed dismay.
"Antitrust laws exist for the sake of American consumers and not to promote the political interests of public servants," said David Barnes, Policy Officer at Americans for Prosperity, on Thursday. "The Department of Justice should not exercise its authority to subjectively select winners and losers in the technology industry or to enforce freedom of expression."
Devlin Barrett contributed to this report.
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