New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into former Twitter executives was an attempt to “co-opt” the platform to pursue a political agenda.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Ocasio-Cortez questioned former Twitter Executives regarding the platform’s previous decision to censor the New York Post’s article detailing the contents reportedly discovered on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“New York Post had this ‘alleged’ information and was trying to publish it without any corroboration, without any backup information,” the New York representative said. “They were trying to publish it to Twitter. Twitter did not let them, and now they’re upset.”
“I believe that political operatives who sought to inject explosive disinformation with the Washington Post couldn’t get away with it,” Ocasio-Cortez said, misattributing the Washington Post to the New York Post’s article. “And now they’re livid. And they want the ability to do it again.”
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“They want the ability to inject this again,” she continued, suggesting Twitter was “dragged” before Congress in order to testify further. “A whole hearing about a 24-hour hiccup in a right-wing political operation.”
The New York representative referred to the hearing as an abuse of “public resources” and time.
“We could be talking about health care; we could be talking about bringing down the cost of prescription drugs,” she continued, suggesting the committee could be focused on a myriad of traditionally Democratic positions including “abortion rights” and “voting rights.”
“But instead we’re talking about Hunter Biden’s half-fake laptop story.”
Ocasio-Cortez transitioned towards criticizing former President Trump’s July 2019 tweet thread suggesting the “progressive Democrat Congresswomen,” whose heritage originates outside the United States, return to their “corrupt and inept” countries and fix them.
….and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez claimed the former President “publicly incited violence” during a rally on July 17, 2019 in which the crowd chanted “send her back” in regards to Minnesota representative and member of “the Squad,” Ilhan Omar — presumably for her unsurfaced 2013 video stating “some people did something” regarding Sep. 11, 2001.
The New York representative questioned former Twitter executive Anika Navaroli on the former President’s tweet’s violation of the platform’s terms of service, to which the former executive confirmed she had recommended the post be flagged for violation of the platform’s policies. However, the flagged tweet was overturned by Twitter’s then-vice president of trust and safety, Del Harvey, along with the concept of “go back to where you came from” being removed from the platform’s policy on content moderation, according to Navaroli.
“So much for bias against right-wing on Twitter,” Ocasio-Cortez said, looking toward Republican panel members before turning her criticism towards Libs Of TikTok’s Twitter account. The New York representative claimed the account shared “false information” pertaining to Boston Children’s Hospital regarding the practice of providing hysterectomies on minors.
Ocasio-Cortez noted the account was still on the platform to this day before suggesting the account “inspired” a bomb threat at Boston Children’s Hospital.
“Despite inspiring a bomb threat due to the right-wing incitement of violence against trans Americans in this country, because they cannot let go of this obsession with fixating violence and inciting violence against trans and LGBT people in addition to immigrants, in addition to women of color,” Ocasio-Cortez continued, directing her comments towards Republican panel members. “This is the party that cannot pick on anyone their own size.”
The New York representative suggested Republican panel members were “trying to co-opt an entire social media platform” through the power of the committee and Congress “in order to pursue a political agenda.
Following the alleged bomb threat, Libs of TikTok refuted the claim providing a screenshot of an email from Boston Police confirming they had not received a call about the matter.
In a now-deleted video, a Boston Children’s Hospital affiliate confirmed mastectomies are performed on patients as young as fifteen.
