House Republicans tell Facebook to preserve any FBI communications on Hunter Biden laptop story
Republicans aim to investigate Facebook for how it handles stories on Hunter Biden's laptop
New York Post columnist Miranda Devine details new accusations against the FBI over the Hunter Biden laptop story.
House Republicans are demanding social media juggernaut Facebook preserve all communications with the FBI leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
GOP members of the House oversight and judiciary committees announced Thursday via an open letter that Facebook has failed to provide "complete responses" to concerns over their handling of the infamous Hunter Biden laptop.
The Republicans are now telling Facebook to keep all records of their contact with the FBI.
"Shortly before the 2020 presidential election, Facebook suppressed an explosive New York Post article detailing how Hunter Biden used the position and influence of his father, now-President Biden, for personal gain, with the apparent awareness of President Biden," the letter begins.
Mark Zuckerberg, via video, speaks at the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, on March 15, 2022. (Samantha Burkardt/Getty Images for SXSW / Getty Images)
Facebook founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told podcast host Joe Rogan on an Aug. 25 episode that ahead of the 2020 election, the FBI told Facebook to watch out for possible Russian propaganda, advising them to "be vigilant" because something was about to come out.
As a result, Zuckerberg admitted, Facebook limited the visibility of articles about Hunter Biden's laptop.
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In their letter, the GOP lawmakers went on to allege that Facebook has attempted to avoid any "real accountability for its actions" and has dodged providing sufficient answers for their suppression of the New York Post's story.
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Facebook co-founder, chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a combined Senate Judiciary and Commerce committee hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on April 10, 2018. (Alex Wong/Getty Images / Getty Images)
"You acknowledged that this official alert from the FBI is what led to Facebook reducing the circulation of the Post's reporting on its platform, preventing Americans from fully understanding highly relevant allegations about President Biden's awareness of and involvement in his family's influence-peddling scheme," the Republicans wrote.
They added, "Accordingly, we write to request additional information about Facebook's actions to interfere in free and fair election-related public discourse."
"Furthermore, this letter serves as a formal request to preserve all existing and future records and materials relating to the topics addressed in this letter," the letter states. "You should construe this preservation notice as an instruction to take all reasonable steps to prevent the destruction or alteration, whether intentionally or negligently, of all documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, that are or may be responsive to this congressional inquiry."
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In light of Zuckerberg opening up about Facebook's involvement in the suppression, the senators are demanding that he turn over records of communications between Facebook and the FBI, Justice Department and any other government agencies having to do with the story.
FOX Business' Ron Blitzer contributed to this report.