The White House is reportedly working on a memorandum for President Donald Trump to sign that would direct government agencies to “thoroughly investigate” big tech companies like Google and Facebook, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday, who have fended off accusations of political bias against conservatives.
A draft of that executive order, seen by Bloomberg, is in its preliminary stages and hasn’t yet been run past other government agencies, a White House official told the publication. It also does not mention any specific companies.
However, its current language would o direct federal agencies to give recommendations ways to “protect competition among online platforms and address online platform bias” within a month after being signed, according to the report.
Republican lawmakers and right-wing groups have long questioned whether social media giants like Twitter, Facebook and Google are guilty of an anti-conservative bias, and promoting Democratic or progressive political views.
Trump himself has levied those accusations repeatedly, which reached a crescendo when Twitter was hit by accusations of “shadow banning” right-leaning voices on its platform.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter chief Jack Dorsey and most recently Google’s Sundar Pichai have denied that their platforms are politically biased.
State attorneys general are set to brief U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Sept. 25 about their existing investigations into social media companies’ practices.
