Republicans have reportedly given Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey until Friday to decide whether he will testify next month or face a subpoena from the House Energy and Commerce Committee on allegations of censorship of conservatives on his platform.
Axios reports that committee staffers told Dorsey during a call on Thursday that he can choose to testify before the committee on Sept. 5 or during the week of Sept. 24, or face a subpoena compelling his testimony.
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Republicans on the committee are seeking Dorsey’s testimony over reports that conservatives have been “shadowbanned” on the platform, a process in which an account’s content is hidden from other users without the author’s knowledge.
A spokesperson for the committee did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.
Dorsey has denied that the platform practices shadowbanning of users based on political views, and is set to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Sept. 5 over concerns related to Russian election interference.
“We do not shadowban according to political ideology or viewpoint or content, period,” Dorsey said during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity earlier this month.
Republicans including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) have urged Dorsey to testify before the House committee, speaking with Dorsey as recently as Tuesday about the possibility.
“It’s an important issue in the tech industry and I look forward to continuing the conversation,” Dorsey said this week.
President Trump himself has even threatened to “look into” the issue, calling it “discriminatory and illegal” on Twitter.
“Twitter ‘SHADOW BANNING’ prominent Republicans. Not good. We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints,” the president wrote.
Dorsey admitted in an interview with CNN on Saturday that Twitter staffers’ biases are largely “left-leaning,” but maintained that his company does not censor conservative viewpoints.
“We need to constantly show that we are not adding our own bias, which I fully admit is … is more left-leaning,” Dorsey said.
“But the real question behind the question is, are we doing something according to political ideology or viewpoints? And we are not. Period,” he added.