Rep. Buddy Carter Plans to Investigate AT&T and Verizon’s Censorship of OAN

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) says he anticipates that House Republicans will launch an investigation of how Democrat political pressure influenced AT&T and Verizon to blacklist One America News Network (OAN) in the new Congress.

With Republicans in control of the lower chamber and its committees, they will have new powers to launch investigations and call witnesses. In an interview with OAN, Rep. Carter said he would investigate efforts by Democrat members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, namely Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA), to pressure AT&T and Verizon to blacklist the conservative channel.

“The federal government should not be getting involved in private companies like that,” said Rep. Carter. “And that’s why it’s so concerning, and that’s why we have set as one of our main priorities in the 118th Congress is… that we’re gonna have oversight over this, and we’re gonna look into this.”

Rep. Carter said that the actions of Rep. Eshoo and Rep. McNerney in sending letters to cable companies urging them to deplatform conservative channels was “nothing short of interference.”

“We all believe in free speech… Of course we do, but we can’t have members of Congress, and we can’t have the federal government interfering in that.”

“When you do see examples, as I mentioned before, about what is nothing less than in my mind, censorship as a result of some of the members of Congress interfering and inquiring about this, then obviously that raises red flags.”

“Let’s face it. An inquiry from a member of Congress, and these companies take them seriously. And, and when you make those kind of inquiries… or send those kinds of letters, then those companies are gonna look at it, and they’re gonna look at it seriously.”

“That’s why it’s going to be important for us, in the 118th Congress to make sure, us being the Republican majority, that we’re having oversight in this. And yes, there will be an investigation to see what role members of Congress, members of the Democratic Party played in conservative censorship.”

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.