House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA) on Sunday called for a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) investigation into Big Tech stifling the new social media platform Parler.
"The effect of this is there is no longer a free and open social media company or site for any American to get on anymore because these big companies – Apple, Amazon, Google – they likely destroyed what was likely a billion dollar company," Nunes explained to Fox News' Maria Bartiromo. "Poof. It's gone."
The congressman explained the concern is bigger than a company taking a financial hit.
"Republicans have no way to communicate. It doesn't even matter if you're Republican or conservative. If you don't want to be regulated by left-wingers that are at Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, or you get shadowbanned, nobody gets to see you, they get to decide what's violent or not violent. It's preposterous," Nunes said.
He slammed the Department of Justice and the FBI for being silent on the issue, saying what took place is "clearly a violation of anti-trust, civil rights, the RICO statute."
"There should be a racketeering investigation on all of the people that coordinated this attack, on not only a company, but on all of those like us, like me, like you, Maria – I have three million followers on Parler. At midnight tonight I will no longer be able to communicate with those people," he explained.
The ranking member mentioned that Parler is actually safer than other social media platforms because users have to prove their identity. Once they supply their ID, they are given a badge saying they're a real person. Because of this, if a crime is committed on the website, Nunes said the FBI can subpoena to gain access to the data, which can be used to determine who the criminal is.
Nunes said the reason he ultimately joined Parler earlier this year is because he knew that whatever he posted wouldn't be "manipulated" the way it is on Facebook and Twitter.The news comes after Amazon Web Services (AWS) said they will suspend Parler's web hosting capabilities at 11:59 p.m. Sunday. Apple and Google have also removed the alternative social media platform from their app stores.
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