US Congress calls social platforms – but not X or Facebook – to testify on political violence
By Tj Denzer
Copyright shacknews
In the past few years, and especially as social media and AI have taken greater roles in online social interaction, governments have scrutinized tech companies in attempted regulation. With the recent death of extreme right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk, and the enflamed frenzy of debates that have flared up since, it seems that conversation is circling back around. The US Congress has summoned CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit, strangely leaving Twitter/X and Facebook out of the conversation.
The summoning of tech and social platform CEOs to Congress was announced by Kentucky Representative and Chairman of the GOP Oversight Committee, James Comer. Comer goes on the explain his rhetoric for the summons, framing it as a call to action for tech companies:
🚨BREAKING🚨I’m calling on the CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, & Reddit to testify at an Oversight Committee hearing on October 8.The hearing will examine the radicalization of online forum users, including instances of open incitement to commit politically motivated acts.
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) September 17, 2025
It makes sense that Discord, Steam and Reddit would be called to answer on the subject of political violence, considering these ecosystems have been included in conversations about the suspected shooter, Tyler Robinson, and his alleged motivations. Strange, however, is that Mark Zuckerberg of Meta/Facebook and Elon Musk of X/Twitter were not called to testify, despite both platforms (and especially Twitter) obfuscating the actual identity of the murderer with immediately incendiary rhetoric and blame as the FBI struggled to find the actual shooter in the early hours following the incident. It’s unknown why Comer and the GOP Oversight Committee would leave either company out of the conversation or scrutiny.
Nonetheless, it seems Congress will be having heated conversations with Reddit, Twitch, Steam, and Discord come October. As we wait to see what comes of the talks, stay tuned to the Technology topic for more updates and news.
